


--discontinued-- this world is not made for you

by No_one_you_know



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brief Description of Injuries, idk where this idea came from, is that spoilers? you find out in ch 2, it gets darker as it goes on, its a royalty au, tommy's a dirty crime boy, tubbos a prince
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 30,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27397615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/No_one_you_know/pseuds/No_one_you_know
Summary: Tommy's lived in Pogtopia for about as long as he can remember. His older siblings had been banished from the kingdom of L'manburg when he was a kid, and he went with him.But the banished life was so incredibly lonely, so when he met a boy about his age when he'd snuck into L'manburg, of course he was going to befriend him. And if that friend happened to be the prince of L'manburg? Well, any friend is better than no friend, right?====The royalty au literally no one asked for.
Relationships: dont ship real people thats weirdchamp, no - Relationship, not really thats a joke, wilbur and the salmon
Comments: 266
Kudos: 722





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a hot minute since I've written anything, certainly nothing this long. I really have no idea what I'm doing, but appreciate whatever this is. If people like it I'll definitely update as I have a few chapters pre-written.

Tommy was running. Or, he was trying to run, anyway. He’d twisted his ankle about fifty yards back, and it was making the whole “running away” thing a lot harder than he’d planned for. But it was fine. He’d be fine. He _was _fine.  
Until someone grabbed the back of the neckerchief that was tied around his neck and yanked him backwards onto the ground. The air was knocked out of him as he fell _hard _on his left shoulder. And, oh, it hurt. It felt like someone took a knife to his shoulder blade, and as soon as he tried to get up, he realized he wasn’t able to move his left arm at all, which meant he couldn’t push himself up.  
Not that he could’ve gotten up, anyway. Someone’s boot was pressing against his chest, pinning him to the ground.____

____“Hey, big man,” Tommy started, cringing at the scratchy sound of his voice. He made a mental note to not wear the neckerchief next time. “I don’t want any trouble.”  
“If you didn’t want any trouble, you shouldn’t have been stealing.”  
“I didn’t steal anything!”  
“I saw you take the coats, kid.”  
“I picked them up to buy them! I just hadn’t paid for them yet!” He insisted, forcing himself to look sad in an attempt to play into the man’s emotions.  
“And that’s why you were walking out the door with them?” The man sneered and rolled his eyes. Okay, maybe emotions weren’t the best way to go, but still, it wasn’t even fair. Tommy had dropped the stolen items as he was running- he didn’t even have them now! Before he could reply, the man moved his foot and pulled Tommy to his feet by his shirt collar, only to immediately push him against the side of a building._ _ _ _

____This wasn’t fair. Wilbur had sent him into the kingdom of L’manburg to get them a few heavy coats for winter; the old ones were getting too tattered to use (plus Tommy had grown out of his old one entirely). It wasn’t that Tommy _wanted _to go, by any means, but he was currently the only one in Pogtopia who didn’t have wanted posters plastered on every wall in L’manburg, which made him the perfect (and only) candidate that could go and get supplies for the group.  
The group consisted of three members. Technoblade- Tommy’s oldest brother, an anarchy-driven man who was the best fighter Tommy had ever met. And Wilbur- Tommy’s other older brother as well as the ex-ruler of L’manburg. And, of course, Tommy. The sixteen year old who’d been tasked with going into a kingdom that wanted him dead, all for some flimsy winter coats.___ _ _ _

______He was still up against the wall. Anytime he moved a spike of pain shot through his shoulder and it made him want to cry.  
“Look,” he insisted, again, “I really don’t want any trouble. You- you can take the coats back and-”  
The man punched him. Square in the nose. He let go at the same time, letting Tommy fall to the ground.  
“You’re lucky I’m not calling the guards today, boy.” The man growled. “But be assured, if you try to steal from me again I won’t hesitate to.” With that, he walked away, probably back to his store to yell at other customers or whatever. Tommy didn’t care, anyway._ _ _ _ _ _

______What Tommy _did _care about was making it out of the kingdom and back to Pogtopia. He could go back for coats some other time, but between the dull ache of his ankle and the stabbing pain in his shoulder, he wouldn’t be able to take much anyway. So he lay there for a minute. Two minutes. Three. He really didn’t want to get up. He was tired, exhausted, really, and the pain wasn’t helping, either. Maybe he could close his eyes, just for a minute…___ _ _ _ _ _

________“Are you okay?” A voice came from above him. God? No- no, that was ridiculous. He sounded Tommy’s age.  
Tommy groaned and opened his eyes, surprised to see dark brown ones looking back at him.  
Crouched in front of him was a boy, definitely around his age- maybe fifteen? Tommy wasn’t sure. He had short brown hair and pale, freckled skin. He was wearing a black cloak (Tommy made a mental note that the cloak looked very new) over a plain green button down shirt and grey pants. The outfit didn’t make sense- well, not unless Tommy was a lot closer to the center of the kingdom than he originally thought. Nobody dressed that fancy, no-one’s clothes were that clean, and no one had a ridiculously dark cloak on the outskirts of town. That meant… This boy was rich. An aristocrat, at the very least. Maybe a noble?  
“Oh, geez, can you hear me? Do I- do I need to sign?” The boy started making rapid hand gestures, none of it meaning anything that Tommy could make out, though._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah, no, I can hear you just fine. What… What do you want?”  
“Are you okay? You look- no offence- pretty beat up.”  
“I’m… Yeah, I’m okay.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Maybe he could make his point more clear if he sat up, since he was currently lying on the ground, staring up at the boy. He moved to sit up and had to bite back a cry of pain. Of course it was his shoulder again. That stupid shoulder was going to be his downfall, he was sure. He still managed to push himself into an awkward sitting position, now being able to more easily look the boy, who was now kneeling next to him, in the eyes.  
“You don’t look fine.” The boy rolled his eyes.  
“Well I _am _fine, and even if I wasn’t I wouldn’t want your help anyway.”  
A pause.  
“I saw that guy hit you. Your nose is bleeding now.”  
“So it is.” It was, actually. Tommy hadn’t noticed till it had been pointed out, but blood was dripping down and onto his shirt. Wilbur wouldn’t be happy, but at this point Tommy didn’t care.  
“Did he only hit you?”  
“What?”  
“You looked like you were going to cry when you tried to sit up.”  
“Oh. I fell- well I didn’t fall, he yanked me back by my neckerchief” he gestured with his good arm, “And I guess I fell on my shoulder. It’s not broken or anything, just hurts.”  
“Maybe you dislocated it. I know how to fix that, you know.”  
Tommy actually laughed at that. “What, are you a fifteen-year-old doctor or something?”  
“ _Sixteen _!” The boy rolled his eyes again. “And no, but my- I have a friend who’s good with stuff like that. She showed me. I can fix it if you want.”  
Tommy paused and weighed his options. He could go wander through the city for a few hours in an attempt to find Niki’s bakery (though he doubted he could make it that far with the pain he was in), he could go back home to Pogtopia where Wilbur would yell at him for being reckless. Or….  
“Sure, go for it. But if you make it worse I swear I’ll-”  
“I won’t make it worse, relax. You’ll be fine. I’ve done this lots of times.”  
“Have you really?”  
“Well, no, but-”  
“No?!”  
“It’s fine. I’ve _seen _people do this lots of times and that’s practically the same thing.”  
“No, it’s not even close to the same thing. Are you nuts?”  
The boy was already putting his hands on Tommy’s shoulder- one on either side. “It’s fine, I know what I’m doing. I’m going to count down from three, and then I’ll push it back in place.”  
“No, you’re not going to do that-”  
“Three.”  
“I’m not letting some insane guy break my shoulder trying to fix it because he’s “seen people do it before”, that’s like-”  
“Two.”  
“Like going “I saw a play with a scholar once so now I’m the smartest man alive-”  
“One.”  
“It’s ridiculous-”_______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Tommy’s words turned into a scream, as the boy shoved his shoulder back. At first all he felt was white hot pain, and he was sure that his shoulder was now broken. He felt it from his shoulder down to his hand, and up to his neck. And then… It subsided. It was sore, sure, but nothing like before._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Oh.”  
“Is that- did it actually work? Did I do it right?” He actually sounded excited. And surprised.  
“Yeah… Yeah, that worked. Thanks.”  
“Of course!” The boy beamed.  
“I’m Tommy, by the way.”  
“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m… Tubbo.” The boy- Tubbo- stood up, and held out a hand to Tommy, which he accepted. He was pulled to his feet, just now realizing he was taller than Tubbo by at least five inches, maybe more. “What happened, anyway? Why’d he hit you?”  
Tommy was trying to brush the dirt off his clothes as he replied (not that it really mattered, he was covered in dirt already from the tunnels of Pogtopia). “Well I was _trying _to buy some jackets, but the stupid guy thought I was stealing-”  
“ _Were _you stealing?”  
“No!” That was a blatant lie. “He just saw me and accused me! I know I’m a little dirty, but I still think that’s a big assumption.” He laughed.  
“Yeah, that is rude.” Tubbo didn’t seem to see the humor in Tommy’s words. He seemed more… concerned?  
“It’s okay, just means I’ll have to find somewhere else to get coats.”  
“I- I could buy you some, if you wanted.”  
“No, no, it’s fine. I have to get some for my brothers too, anyway. I wouldn’t want to make you buy all that, big man. Even if you’re rich.”_____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________Tubbo froze, fear washed over his face. Tommy just laughed.  
“Relax, Tubbo, I don’t really care. You’re crap at hiding it, though. You know that?”  
“I… Is it really that obvious?”  
“Your clothes are way too new and _way _too clean to even kind of pass for anything other than rich. What are you, anyway? Son of some lawyer or something?”  
Tubbo paused for a long moment. “Yeah, yeah. My dad’s a lawyer. His name is… Big Law… He specializes in… uh… Law Stuff.” Tommy laughed again. Tubbo did, too. “No, it’s true!” He said through laughs, “Big Law is a professional lawyer, he makes millions of dollars a day by lawyer-ing!”  
“Mhm, I’m sure.” He said sarcastically.  
“No, no, but really,” Tubbo said, the laughter fading, “I’ll get you some jackets.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________They argued for several more minutes over it. Tommy insisting that it would cost too much, then that it would be too much of a hassle, Tubbo promising it was fine, and that since Tommy was injured he didn’t want him to try and go shopping anyway.  
The argument ended when he saw Tommy’s limp (stupid ankle, this was the second time he’d sprained it this month alone). Tubbo had more or less told him to stay put and walked away faster than Tommy could chase after him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________This… This was stupid. Idiotic. Bordering on the edge of suicidal. Of course Tubbo’s lawyer thing was a joke, but it was clear he was rich. Rich people knew of him. They knew the horror stories of Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and their little brother Tommy. In fact, Tubbo was probably raised being told about how awful they all were.  
Not that they actually were awful, but L’Manburg liked to push its leaders' opinions on the people. And, as the King hated Tommy’s family, his people would, too. Which meant that Tubbo hated him too.  
The only thing was: Tubbo didn’t know who Tommy was. Clearly not, otherwise he would’ve called the guards the second he saw him. He certainly wouldn’t have helped with his shoulder, he wouldn’t have made jokes, and he wouldn’t have gone to buy winter coats for him and his brothers. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Tubbo had no idea who Tommy was._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________And Tommy was going to use that to his advantage. Not forever, of course. As soon as he was found out he’d be arrested, maybe executed, whatever. But for now? Just this once, he’d let Tubbo buy him the coats. If Tubbo wanted to be a good samaritan, who was Tommy to stop him? Only this once, though. Pulling off something like this once was dangerous, twice would be deadly. Besides, he wasn’t going to befriend the kid (at least that’s how he justified it in his head), Tommy would just let him buy him a few necessities, then hightail it out of the kingdom._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Tubbo came back a few minutes later, coats in his arms and a smile on his face that made Tommy cringe internally, and made his plan crumble to pieces in front of him. As Tubbo walked over, Tommy knew he had to get out of there as soon as possible. This kid was way too nice for him to take advantage like he was._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“I didn’t know exactly what you wanted- other than warm ones, but I got warm coats. In different sizes, too, so hopefully they’ll all fit you guys.”  
“Thanks, Tubbo. I really appreciate it.” He took the coats, holding them awkwardly. “I, uh, better get going now, though.”  
“Are you sure? With your leg- you were limping pretty badly, I don’t want-”  
“No, I’m fine. My brothers will kill me if I’m out too late, you know?”  
“It’s not even that late, though. And I could always walk you home.”  
“Not even that late?” Tommy repeated, indignantly, “The sun’ll set in about five minutes, and my brother’s freak when I’m out past dark.”  
“Wait- the sun’s setting?” The happiness in Tubbo’s face was replaced with panic as he looked up at the sky.  
“Yeah, you didn’t notice the shadows?”  
“I guess I didn’t care… I gotta go.” He was speaking fast now, rushed.  
“No, _I _\- wait, you’re agreeing with me?”  
Tubbo gave him a look.  
“Relax, Big T, I get it. Rich boy has strict parents.” He laughed. Tubbo didn’t. “Like I was saying, I gotta get home, too. So this is where we’ll part ways.”  
“Yeah, yeah.” Tubbo was fiddling with his cloak. He paused for a few seconds, “Be safe, okay Tommy?”  
“Of course. You too, Tubbo.” Tommy turned around. So did Tubbo. They walked off in opposite directions, Tubbo almost immediately breaking out in a sprint towards the center of town, Tommy going a much slower pace. Wilbur would be mad at him for plenty of the things he did that day, why rush to be chastised for it.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	2. two

As soon as Tommy turned, Tubbo ran. He would’ve helped the guy, he really wanted to, but Schlatt would have his head if he knew Tubbo had left the castle by himself again. Especially without permission. Especially to talk to some poor kid who had definitely been out stealing.  
But Schlatt didn’t have to know. Schlatt wouldn’t have to find out- except for the fact that it was nightfall, Tubbo wasn’t at the castle, and he was supposed to have a “family dinner” with him about ten minutes ago.  
He snuck through the gates about five minutes after the sun had set- climbing the part of the wall directly hidden from the guard’s view. He probably should’ve told someone about this breach in security, but that would mean he’d no longer have an escape route, and as much as he valued safety, he also valued his freedom.

King Schlatt had adopted Tubbo when he was three years old too young to really remember being anything but a prince. His actual parents had died, though he couldn’t recall how, and Schlatt had taken him in. And, for the most part, it was really nice. He had good food to eat, private tutors, and could get practically anything he wanted.  
The only problem Schlatt was super overprotective. He had gone through a lot to gain leadership of the kingdom.   
Tubbo had been told the story at least a thousand times in the thirteen years he’d been a prince: how Schlatt and his closest friend, Wilbur, had built the kingdom with their bare hands, how they worked together, all for his friend to betray him, hurting and killing so many people in the process. Schlatt had banished Wilbur and his family from the Kingdom and took full control for himself. He’d ruled fairly peacefully ever since then, but the man was still paranoid.   
When Tubbo was five, Wilbur and his friends had been spotted near the castle, and Schlatt made a rule that Tubbo couldn’t leave without at least two guards. When he was ten, and another man (Dream, Tubbo thought he was called?) almost blew up the kingdom. After that, Schlatt said he couldn’t leave unless it was for special occasions.

He’d only started sneaking out a few months ago, during his occasional free time, whenever he could slip out from his guard’s watch under the guise of hanging out in his room or the castle garden. He only did it to wander around, to see the people and the kingdom. He never even spoke to anyone.  
But when he saw Tommy on the ground, in pain, bleeding, he wasn’t going to just leave him there.

Tubbo regretted letting him walk home alone a little, as he slipped into the castle’s gardens. The guy would be fine though, right? He hoped so. Even if he _had _been stealing, he didn’t deserve to be hurt, and he would’ve frozen in the winter without those coats. Tubbo honestly doubted he actually had a home, considering how dirty he was. He’d seen the street kids out before, orphans who got by from stealing and scamming. Tommy was probably just one of them, Tubbo thought.  
And just this once, it’d be fine to help someone. Even if it did make him late.__

__“Tubbo!” Someone yelled. No, not someone, Quackity. His main guard.  
“Oh, hi, Quackity!” Tubbo yelled back, walking over to him. Quackity was running towards him, coming from the garden’s entrance.  
“Where were you? I’ve been looking _everywhere _for you. Schlatt’s gonna kill me.”  
“I was just in the garden,” It wasn’t the worst lie he’d used to explain his disappearances before, “I lost track of time. Is Schlatt still waiting for dinner?”  
Either Quackity believed him, or just didn’t care to fight him on it. “Yes, come on. The faster the better.” He’d put a hand on Tubbo’s back and was practically pushing him into the castle, down the hallways, leading him to the dining room. ___ _

____They didn’t talk as they rushed to the room. Quackity had questions, sure, but he could ask them later, while the king wasn’t waiting. Even if they wanted to talk, it only took them about two minutes to get to the dining room._ _ _ _

____Tubbo hated the dining room. The dining table was too big. It could seat at least twenty people (Tubbo had counted once when he was bored), and was usually used for meetings with the kingdom’s ambassadors and allies. The meetings were always long and drawn out. Worse than the meetings, however, were “family dinners”, as Schlatt liked to call them. It was just him and Tubbo (though Quackity and George stood in the back, and servants rushed around to deal with food and dishes), and they almost always ate in silence.  
Schlatt was sitting at the head of the table, making idle conversation with his right hand man, George, when Tubbo and Quackity stepped through the doors._ _ _ _

____Schlatt’s hair was slicked back, though he was in more casual clothes than he usually wore (“casual clothes” was a ruffled dress shirt and dress pants, but at least he wasn’t wearing robes and a crown). He looked up at Tubbo as he walked in.  
“So nice of you to finally join us.” The words were dripping with sarcasm and laced with anger.  
“Sorry, Schlatt, I was in the garden.” He used the same lie he told Quackity. It was easier that way. “I forgot we were having a dinner, and-”  
“And Quackity didn’t remind you?”  
“Well, he didn’t because he couldn’t find me. I thought I’d play a game of hide and seek, but not tell him, you see-”  
“Have a seat, Tubbo.”_ _ _ _

____He sat. As if on cue, two servants walked out with plates of food for the two of them. He didn’t bother to check what, knowing it was just some plain meat and vegetables. It would be delicious, sure, but Schlatt’s gaze had made him lose his appetite._ _ _ _

____Schlatt hadn’t lost his, however, as he began to cut whatever they’d been served. He let out a loud sigh before asking, “And how were your classes today?”  
“They were fine. Uh, my music tutor says I’m making real progress on the piano. Oh, and I’ve been learning about Shakespeare and other playwrights for English.”   
Tubbo continued to ramble about school (though it wasn’t technically “school”, as it was just him and several private tutors), relieved for the topic to have changed from his absence. Schlatt let him ramble, too, giving an interjection here and there, asking the occasional question._ _ _ _

____Once they had both finished talking about their days, they sat in silence, until Tubbo popped a question that had been stuck in his head since he’d seen Tommy earlier that day._ _ _ _

____“What do we do for the homeless in the kingdom?”  
“What?”  
“Well, I was just thinking about it- one of my teachers said something in class- but there’s poor people in L'manburg, aren’t there?” He had to play this carefully, getting answers he needed without Schlatt realizing he’d left the castle.  
“Yes, Tubbo, not everyone is as… Fortunate, as us.”  
“Why don’t we do anything to help them?”  
“We _are _doing things.”  
“Like what?”  
“Well, we’re working on creating more jobs. Just hiring guards and servants helps get people more work and therefore money-”  
“What about the young people? Kids, who can’t have jobs yet?”  
“Then their parents can get jobs.”  
“And if they don’t have parents?”  
“We have orphanages?” He suggested.___ _ _ _

______That made Tubbo pause. He knew next to nothing about Tommy, but he’d assumed the guy didn’t have parents. Most parents would let their kids get beat up by random shopkeepers. Why wasn’t he staying in an orphanage?_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah, you’re right. I just… It’s getting cold lately, I’m worried about, like, people who can’t afford coats or blankets, you know?”  
Schlatt sighed. “We’re doing the best we can, and sometimes that’s all we can do.” He rose from his seat, George moving from the back of the room to his side. “But you don’t need to worry about that, though, it doesn’t affect you. Okay?”  
“...Yeah.” Tubbo frowned. It wasn’t okay, but he wasn’t about to go argue with his father. He stood, too. “I think I’m going to go to bed now.” He said, quieter, now.  
“Of course. Have Quackity read you a bedtime story or something- do you still do bedtime stories?”  
“I’m sixteen.”  
“So that’s a… no…?”  
“Yes, Schlatt, that’s a no.” He said, without malice. He was annoyed, but not angry. He made it to the door, Quackity in tow, before Schlatt spoke again.   
“Goodnight, Tubbo.” And then, “Quackity, stay behind for a moment, I’d like to have a word.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Tubbo froze, hand on the doorknob. He glanced back at Quackity, who gave him the confused and somewhat startled look that he was sure mirrored his own face. They stared at each other for a moment, tense, before Quackity gestured for him to go.  
So he turned the handle and walked out, closing the dining room door behind him. _ _ _ _ _ _

______Now would be the perfect time to sneak out again, if he wanted to. Quackity couldn’t see him, Schlatt was busy, and it was dark out. He wouldn’t, though. Not tonight. Sneaking out even once a month was risky, but twice in one day? That was idiotic. Instead he made it down the twisting hallways to his room._ _ _ _ _ _

______Tubbo hated his room. It was located towards the center of the castle, which, though he’d been assured would mean he was safer, it also meant he didn’t get a window. In place, he had a large painting hung on one of the walls to mimic a window to the outside. It was a nice painting, a realistic rendering of the castle’s gardens a few years back, when they were still growing daisies. Flying around the flowers were crudely drawn bees, something Tubbo had scribbled onto the painting one day when he was young and bored.  
The room itself was more than big enough for Tubbo. It had his large bed in the middle of the back wall, with a nightstand on either side and another storage chest at the foot of the bed. He had a desk (that he rarely used) pushed on the opposite side of the room as the bed, a fluffy rug on the floor (covered in various board games he and Quackity and gotten halfway through playing before abandoning), an easel and painting supplies were strewn across the floor underneath the window painting, too. Tubbo wasn’t a great painter, but it kept him entertained at least._ _ _ _ _ _

_______He crossed the room and flopped down on top of his bed with a groan. He hated family dinners. He hated the castle. He hated his windowless room. He hated--  
He hated the fact that he had so much that he didn’t need and didn’t even want. He hadn’t asked to be adopted, it’d just sort of happened. And… And now he was being ungrateful. Because Schlatt had given him everything he could ever want, and Tubbo was being angry about it.  
Maybe he wasn’t as angry about how much he had as much as he was that other people had so little. Sure, he knew there were poor people in the kingdom, he just hadn’t really talked to any. Maybe that was his fault. But Tommy had been so hurt and Tubbo could barely even help him.  
Oh.  
Useless. He was feeling useless. It was stupid, considering there was little chance he’d see the other boy again, but he still felt it. He wanted to help him- and not only by buying him jackets or fixing his shoulder. Unfortunately, he had no way to help. Not yet, at least._ _ _ _ _


	3. three

“Techno.” Tommy started, the morning after he’d gotten back from his somehow successful shopping trip. Wilbur had wrapped up his ankle the night before, complaining the whole time about how he needed to be more responsible and if Tommy kept getting injured Wilbur would stop letting him go into town.

“Tommy.” Techno replied. He was currently baking who-knows-what on the stovetop as Tommy sat at the kitchen table.

“How come we don’t have any friends?”

“What do you mean? You have me and Wilbur-”

“No, you’re my brothers, that doesn’t count. I mean _real_ friends.”

Techno sighed, pushing long pink hair out of his face as he leaned over whatever he was stirring. “We’ve been over this, Tommy. It’s dangerous to talk to people from the other nations. They could get you arrested, or executed, or they might kill you themselves.”

“Wilbur talks to Niki, though.”

“Niki’s different.”

Niki _was_ different. A citizen of L’manburg, but not by choice (Tommy still didn’t know how that worked). She owned a little bakery towards the center of L’manburg, and every time Tommy saw her she’d give him cookies or bread or some other treat. She’d known Wilbur for a long time, well before L’manburg was even a thing. Niki wasn’t allowed to leave L’manburg (no one had told Tommy why), but she was still considered an honorary member of Pogtopia.   
  


Techno stopped his cooking and walked over to him, taking a seat on the opposite side of the small table. “You met someone in town, didn’t you?”

“...No.”

“What’s her name?”

“What? Gross- No! I didn’t meet any girls!” He exclaimed, maybe a little too indignantly.

“Mhm. But if you _had_ met someone-”

“Which I didn’t.”

“If you _had_ met someone,” Techno repeated, “You would need to stop talking to them.”

Tommy frowned. 

Techno continued, “I know you’re in your rebellious teen phase or something, but this could get you killed. It could get all of us killed.” 

“Relax, ‘Blade,” Tommy leaned back in his seat, “I didn’t meet anyone, I was just thinking about it.”

Techno started at him for a long moment. Tommy stared back. They sat there, for an uncomfortable amount of time, before a hissing sound came from whatever Techno was making.

“Your water’s boiling over.”

***

It was two weeks before Wilbur deemed Tommy fit to leave the ravine Pogtopia was built in. 

“No, you can’t go out, Tommy. A toddler could outrun you right now, and I’m not letting you go out to the woods to get eaten by a wolf or something.” Wilbur had said when Tommy originally asked. “Besides, I know you’re going to go running and that’ll just make it worse.”

Deep down he knew Wilbur was right, and though he wanted to fight him over it, he didn’t. He did the good thing and stayed in the Ravine for two weeks, till the point he was bouncing off the walls so much Wilbur was more than happy to get him out of the home. 

“Tommy, why don’t you go gather some mushrooms for dinner.” Wilbur suggested one morning. Tommy gave a quick “okay” as a reply as he sprinted out, grabbing a basket to hold them in before he left.

He always missed the sunlight when he was in Pogtopia. It was something about the warmth; and the way it lit up the world around him in a way torches never could. He loved it outside. He loved the trees and the animals and the nature around him.

Grass crunched underneath his feet as he walked down the long familiar path to where mushrooms grew most frequently. Calling it a path was an overstatement- as there were no real markers, just a few trees that could pass as landmarks, but he’d walked it so often he’d had it memorized.

Weaving in and out of the trees, he made his way deeper into the dark forest. Every once in a while, he’d pick a mushroom here or there, but he was waiting till he got to the center of the forest to find the really good ones. The center of the forest always had these huge mushrooms, red with white spots that Tommy was sure meant it was poisonous but Wilbur insisted was fine to eat. 

He had just gotten to the center and started picking mushrooms when he heard something. The rustling of fabric, the fall of boots on the ground. Tommy froze, wide-eyed.

For a second, he couldn’t move. He could hear his own heartbeat, his breathing was too loud, and he nearly dropped the basket he’d been putting the mushrooms in.

The noise was coming from his left, maybe a yard or two out. _Way_ too close. 

Tommy grimaced. The movements were too fast and too erratic to be a zombie, and the fabric meant it wasn’t a skeleton, either. Yeah, definitely a person. But who? It didn’t matter, as he crouched down and pulled a knife out of his boot. He never left home without a weapon since Pogtopia was first formed.

Carefully, he stalked towards the person, making sure to stay hidden behind trees, to keep his steps silent, to keep his breathing low.

And then he lunged out and towards the person.

Said person screamed. Tommy moved quickly, clamping one hand over the person’s mouth, the other holding the knife at their throat. He kneeled over them, the way Techno had trained him to, something about keeping them from moving as easily or whatever. 

“Make one more noise,” Tommy whispered harshly, “And I’ll- Tubbo?”

The dark brown hair and eyes, the freckles across his face, and that stupid too-clean cloak. Yeah, this was definitely Tubbo.

They both stayed there for a moment, staring at each other. Tubbo’s eyes were full of fear, and Tommy was pretty sure his own expression mirrored that, considering he thought he was about to be murdered a few seconds ago. 

It took him thirty more seconds before he realized that he should let him go. He quickly rolled off the boy, letting go of Tubbo but not of his knife (not yet, anyway. There was still risk).

“Tommy?”

“...Hi, Tubbo.”

Tubbo slowly pushed himself up by his elbows until he was sitting, criss cross, staring at Tommy. Tommy was in a half-kneeling-half-sitting position next to him. Neither boy spoke a word for what could only be described as an awkward amount of time.

“So… Uh… Do you usually tackle people you meet in the forest?”

“What? Oh- no! No, no, no, I don’t- I mean- I _did_ this time, but I-” He was scrambling for words, finally settling on, “You startled me, is all.”

“ _I_ startled _you_? You shoved me to the ground with a knife at my neck!” Tubbo was shouting, loud enough to make Tommy’s anxiety skyrocket. The chances of this kid traveling through the woods alone were miniscule, and if he yelled?

“Keep it down!” He used his angry whisper again, which was really just a step below speaking. It was stupid, really, to take his eyes off of Tubbo at all, but it was easier to listen than to see if there was anyone else in the forest around him. He closed his eyes for maybe 10 seconds, listening. Nothing. He opened his eyes again, to see Tubbo looking scared, but a different type of scared than before.

“You come with anyone?” Tommy asked, glaring at him.

Tubbo’s face dropped. “Are you going to kill me?” He asked, his voice only a whisper now. “I- I knew this was going to happen, dad said that if I went out someone would try to kill me, he warned me and I-” Okay, so Tubbo definitely was out here alone.

“Woah, relax, Tubbo, I’m not gonna kill you.” He held his hands up in an attempt to look less scary. Okay, maybe the knife still in his hand didn’t help. He quickly stuck it back in his boot, careful to not stab himself in the foot. Tubbo didn’t look convinced.

“Look,” Tommy continued, “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I swear.”

He stood up and offered a hand to the other boy, who was still sitting on the ground. It was a long moment before he accepted, and Tommy pulled him to his feet. 

They both stood there in silence for maybe thirty more seconds before Tommy spoke yet again. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“Good.”

He looked at Tubbo for a moment longer, then grabbed the basket of mushrooms he’d discarded when he’d tackled Tubbo. Mushrooms had spilled out everywhere, and Tommy continued to talk as he picked them up. 

“If it makes you feel better, the dirt I got on your cloak will make you stick out less.”

Another beat of awkward silence, then, Tubbo laughed. Not a lot, but enough to get Tommy to continue. 

“I’m just saying, Big T, all the street kids are a little banged up. You’ll fit in better now.”

“Big T?”

“Yeah, Big T. For- for Tubbo.”

Tubbo snorted. “Big T. I like it.”

“Of course you do. I’m a professional at nicknames.”

He had finished picking up the mushrooms now, and stood up. He’d forgotten how much taller he was than the other (by at least 10 inches, he was pretty sure). 

“Tommy?”

“Big T.”

“Why are you out here, anyway?”

“Gathering mushrooms for dinner.” He lifted the basket to show him. “My brother’s making soup, I think.”

“Why don’t you just buy some in the market?”

The question surprised him. He wasn’t sure why, obviously this kid wouldn’t have to go out gathering things for dinner. Actually, mushrooms were pretty cheap in general, most street kids would be able to buy mushrooms if they wanted. 

The surprise must’ve been obvious on his face, because Tubbo interrupted before he could reply, talking quickly, 

“Sorry, that was rude of me, I guess I never really thought about how someone might not be able to afford them.” And then, before he could reply again, “Sorry! That was even more rude, wasn’t it, I’m so sorry I didn’t-“

“It’s fine.” He forced out an awkward laugh. “Gotta get food somehow. Doesn’t matter, though. Why are <i>you<i> here?”

“Oh- oh, _me_?”

“You’re the only person around for miles, Tubbo, of course you.”

Tubbo sighed. “I got lost.”

“In the middle of the woods.” It was less of a question and more of an incredulous statement.

“I wasn’t in the _middle_ of the woods when I got lost!”

“You got lost in the woods and your first thought was to wander deeper in?” 

A pause. “To be fair, I thought I was wandering out. And then I got turned around, and then I got tackled.” He looked up at Tommy. The look he was giving wasn’t angry (it wasn’t happy, either), it reminded Tommy of a parent reprimanding their child. Wilbur used to--

He shook the thought out of his head.

“Turned around is right.” He snorted. Tubbo glared at him. “You were definitely wandering deeper into the woods. Even _I_ can tell that much.” 

“Well if you’re so smart then how do we get out?”

Tommy rolled his eyes, about to say the obvious answer, before he realized he didn’t actually know. He could get back to Pogtopia, and could get to L’manburg from there, but he had no idea how to get to the kingdom from the mushroom area in the woods.

“Easy.” Not easy. Very much not easy. 

When he was six or so, Techno brought him to a large plains once. The point was, Techno explained, to learn to tell directions. Techno had explained where North, East, West, and South were. Which direction the sun rose from. How to tell the time based on shadows.

When it got dark, they laid on the ground and Techno explained directions with the stars. He talked about the moon, the north star, and other landmarks (were they landmarks if they were in the sky?). He showed Tommy how to navigate, explaining how the stars made it easier, but it was always safer during the day.

That day, Tommy had listened intently to every word Techno had said. 

Unfortunately, he had understood very little of what Techno had said. He still struggled with directions, ten years later. But hey, it was still worth a shot, yeah?

The sun was actually hidden by the dense forest around them. The dense branches made great darkness for mushrooms to grow, but it made navigating almost impossible. Unless you looked over them.

Tommy sat the basket back on the ground and started his way up the nearest tree.

“What are you doing?” Tubbo shouted.

“What does it look like? I’m _navigating_!”

“You’re going to fall!”

Tommy was maybe five feet off the ground as he turned to look down at Tubbo.

“Just because _you’d_ fall from this height doesn’t mean _I_ would.”

“I- okay, that’s just uncalled for.”

A grin crossed his face. “What, you can’t climb a little tree?”

“I-- of course I can climb a tree. It’s basically just a fence, I’ve climbed plenty of those.”

“Wait- wait, Tubbo-” Tommy jumped down out of the tree, causing Tubbo to let out a small scream. “You’ve never climbed a tree?”

“No…?”

He laughed. “Don’t you have trees in L’manburg?”

“We have plenty of trees in L’manburg, I just… never had any reason to climb them, I guess.” He looked almost embarrassed. 

“Okay, new plan: teaching Tubbo how to climb trees. It’s easy, I believe in you.”

“I don’t- I don’t think that’s a good idea-” Tommy had already grabbed his hand and pulled him to the tree.

“Again, it’s easy. Grab onto that branch there.” He pointed to the second lowest branch of the tree. It was maybe six feet off the ground. Once Tubbo did, Tommy gestured to the actual lowest branch, “And step up onto that one.”

Tubbo paused. “Are you sure this is safe?”

“Yeah, of course this is safe. As long as you don’t fall.” He teased. Tubbo slowly stepped up. “See? Easy. Now just… keep doing that. Till you get up high.”

“I don’t want to fall…”

“You won’t fall! And if you do, I’ll catch you.”

“Promise?”

“I swear it.”

Painstakingly slowly, Tubbo made it up a few more branches. He was nowhere near the top of the large tree, but considering how he was sitting on one of the branches, his arms wrapped desperately around the trunk of said tree, Tommy figured that was about as high as the kid would go.

“My turn!” Tommy climbed up the tree like he’d been climbing his whole life. And to be fair- he had been. He’d never gotten a fancy lesson like he’d just given Tubbo, but as a kid, he’d climb trees for fun. When he, Techno, and Wilbur were adventuring through the forest too late at night, they’d climb the trees to avoid monsters. When he was a little older, being chased by guards, he’d realized how good a hiding spot trees could be (people rarely looked up). It’d gotten him out of trouble countless times.

He made it up to Tubbo’s level in seconds, and then kept going.

“Tommy,” Tubbo said, staring up at him, “Are you sure it’s safe to climb _that_ high? I feel like the branch I’m at is already pretty high, and aren’t the higher branches weaker?” 

“Yeah, higher branches are weaker, but I know what I’m doing. Besides, I gotta see over the rest of the trees to navigate.” He explained as he weaved his way through branches. While Tubbo stopped at maybe twelve feet off the ground, Tommy was still going. The Spruce trees they were climbing reached around fifty feet, and Tommy had to be pretty high up to see what he was doing.

“What if you fall?” 

“I’m not going to fall!”

Thirty feet.

Forty feet.

Fifty feet.

He was standing on the smallest branch he could manage, and though it bowed slightly under his weight, it wasn’t enough to be concerning. He had one arm wrapped around the trunk of the tree, the other he held straight up as he tried to map out where the sun was, as if he remembered what Techno had taught him all those years ago. 

In Lmanburg, the sun set to the left. “Left and right are relative! I can’t just tell you left or right, that’s not how it works!” Techno had yelled at him once. “You have to use cardinal directions”, but Tommy frankly didn’t care. The sun set to the left, the sun rose to the right. 

Currently, the sun was setting to his front, which meant… They needed to travel right. That was Tommy’s logic, anyway. It might not have made sense, but he was pretty sure it would work. 

“I have no clue how far we are from the kingdom,” He shouted down to Tubbo, “But I know the direction to go!”

“That’s very cool, Tommy, but can we come down now?” The poor kids voice was shaking.

“Yeah, Big T. I’m coming down.” He shifted his attention to climbing down the tree, taking it a little slower than the climb up. It was harder going down, since he couldn’t exactly see what he was doing.

Still, he didn’t need sight to know that he didn’t have good enough grip on the branch he was moving to. He should’ve seen it coming- should’ve prevented it before it was an issue, but he didn’t. 

His feet slipped off first, followed by his hands, and next thing he knew he was falling.


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These next few chapters are a little bit shorter. Trying to plot everything out and keep a decent pacing is a little harder than I thought it would be. Still, I hope you enjoy. Again I love seeing comments as it lets me know people want to read more.

Tubbo had never climbed a tree before. Maybe it was because he had no one to climb them with. Maybe it was because he was quite afraid of falling. Okay, it was probably the second thing. But now he was here, very high up (at least it looked very high up), Tommy up so high above him.

He watched in horror as Tommy’s foot slipped from the branch he was standing on. He watched in more horror as his hands slipped, too.

“TOMMY!” He screamed. Because his first friend (was it too early to call him that?) was falling to his death. Tommy screamed, too. Because he was falling (obviously).

It was a terrifying sight, watching the boy fall from the tree. Blond hair waving in the wind, his arms frantically grasping for anything he could hold on to, but finding nothing in the air.

And then he caught himself, frantically wrapping his arms around a branch. He wrapped his legs around too, then quickly moved himself to a sitting position similar to the one Tubbo was in.

“Tommy!” He yelled again, the shock still evident in his voice. “Are you okay?” In all honesty, Tommy had only fallen about ten feet, but that ten feet felt like a lot farther when he was watching the boy fall.It took him a long moment before he got a response, clearly trying to hide the shake in his voice but doing a poor job of it, “Yeah, I’m good. Just gonna… Stay up here a minute. For the view. Yeah.”

“Did you get hurt at all?”“No, no, yeah, I’m okay. Just… Uh, knocked the wind out of me is all.” Was he lying?  
Tubbo couldn’t tell. “Okay, just… Be careful next time, yeah?”

  
“Yeah.”

Tommy sat for another sixty seconds or so before making his descent down the tree, being much more careful this time. Eventually, he made it down to Tubbo’s level.

  
“So, now you know how to climb a tree, you need to know how to get down, right?”

  
Tubbo snorted, “Didn’t you nearly fall to your death, like, two minutes ago?”

  
“No! That was just me getting down faster! Now look, it’s easy, just do the same thing you did to get up, but backwards.” He climbed down further, now having to look up to see Tubbo, who rolled his eyes before following him down the tree.

Tommy picked up the basket. “I’m assuming you want to head back to the kingdom now?” Tubbo noted that his voice was still shaking slightly. He hoped it was just adrenaline (because if this kid was going to get hurt every time they saw each other Tubbo might have to start carrying a first aid kit with him).

  
Wait.

  
“Back to the kingdom?”

  
“Yeah…?”

  
“Are we… Are we not _in_ the kingdom?” The kingdom had tall walls around it, there was no way Tubbo had missed passing through them. How could he have missed them?

  
“No? You really think the kingdom owns this forest?” He laughed. “They wouldn’t touch this place with a ten foot pole.”

  
“I guess I just didn’t realize we left the kingdom, is all. Yeah, we should start heading back.”

  
“I’ll lead the way.”

They walked for fifteen minutes, talking about whatever came to their heads, before Tubbo noticed Tommy’s limp.

He’d been limping last time Tubbo saw him, too. Something about a sprained ankle or something, he thought. Shouldn’t that be healed by now?

“Did you hit your ankle on the tree or something? You’re limping.”

  
“Am not.”

  
“Are too!”

  
“Am not-”

  
“Are too-”

  
“No-”

  
“Yes-”

The conversation dissolved into an argument to the point neither of them remembered why it started in the first place, and then they moved back to their casual conversation like before. He could always lecture Tommy about his health later, he supposed.

After what felt like hours, the forest started getting less dense, the dirt and rocks that encased the ground became grass and bushes, and then they finally made it to a clearing.

Once he had gotten a lecture about how oases (oasises?) could only be found in deserts, but at this point he didn’t care. This was an oasis.

The ground was covered in flowers, a small stream flowed through them. A few oak trees held beehives, and bees buzzed happily around the area. As they walked further, Tubbo realized where they were. This hill looked over L’manburg- he could see the entire kingdom from here. And it was beautiful.

Tubbo couldn’t help but grin. This place looked like it came out of a painting- or maybe a daydream. Between the flowers and the view, he could easily see this becoming his favorite place to sneak out to.

He turned and looked at Tommy. Tommy looked… Lost in thought. Nowhere near as elated over their discovery as Tubbo was, but not unhappy, either.

  
“This is pretty cool, don’t you think?” Tubbo asked him, nudging him with his elbow.

  
“Yeah, yeah. If you like flowers and stuff.”

  
“Well I do like flowers. I think it’s nice.”

  
“It is nice. I just, uh… I think I’ve been here before.”

  
Tubbo gave him a look. “Really?”

  
“Yeah… When I was a kid. I think my brother brought me.”

  
“That’s cool.”

Tommy just nodded and started walking forward. “Come on, I think there’s something cool up here.”

And something cool there was. Well, if benches could be considered cool, anyway.

  
The bench was really dirty, with moss climbing its way up the sides, though not quite reaching the seat of it yet. It was made out of what Tubbo was fairly sure was oak wood, and it appeared to be pretty sturdy, even if it had been sitting and (slightly) rotting for a while.

In the center of the back rest were four letters…

  
“W.S. plus S.J.?” Tubbo read outloud, squinting as if that would make it easier to read.

  
“J.S., but yeah.”

  
He laughed. “You think some cheesy couple wrote it.”

  
Tommy snorted. “No, not some cheesy couple. You really think some teens came out here and carved their initials into the bench?”

  
“Well… Maybe. They could.”

“They could?”

“ _We_ could. With your knife.”

They both laughed this time. It was mostly a joke, but part of him actually wanted to. It was a small act of rebellion, and a small reminder that, yes, he could leave the castle and be okay.

  
“You really want to, big man? Because I’m always down for petty crime.” Another laugh.

  
“Yeah, yeah, let’s do it.”

Next thing he knew, they were sitting on the bench, both having carved their initials into it, underneath the previous carving. It wasn’t even funny, but they were sent into hysterics when they realized what they’d done.

  
“We really- I can’t- I didn’t think this through-” Tommy said through laughs,

  
“No, no, it’s fine- we can fix it-”

“We can’t fix it, Tubbo! It’s our names!”

  
“Just change your name-”

“It’s already carved into the wood! I can’t un-carve the wood, Tubbo!”

  
“Have you tried?”

They fell into a fit of laughter. The bench read _TS & T.S,_ and maybe they didn’t think it through, because though they’d never discussed last names Tubbo really didn’t think there was a chance of them having the same initials.

  
For the next few minutes, they went over the different things they could do to the carving on the bench, shooting the others' suggestions down immediately. Add symbols? No, that was dumb. Middle initials? Tommy didn’t have a middle name. Scratch it off and start over? No, people would notice.

“Maybe we just hang out here so often that everyone knows, “TS and TS stands for Tommy and Tubbo?” Tubbo suggested.

“You know… That just might work.”

  
“Really?”

  
“Yeah, really. Not like we have much else to do, anyway. This could be our cool hangout spot: the bench above the kingdom.”

  
“We should do that, then! We can come hang out here and stuff. Then we could actually meet up when you’re not hurt-”

  
“Or when you’re not lost.”

They joked around for a little while longer, before Tommy stood up suddenly.

“My family’s going to think I got murdered or something,” He explained, “I have to head back.”

  
Tubbo was surprised to find himself disappointed. Still, he tried to hide it. “Aw, okay.”

  
“But,” Tommy continued, “We should meet here again, I think.”

  
“Absolutely. What about… Two weeks from now? That’d be a week after next Wednesday.”

  
Tommy nodded earnestly. “Yeah. See you then?”

  
“See you then.”

He watched Tommy leave, then got up from the bench. As much as he’d like to stay there the full two weeks, he had to go home, too. It was pretty likely someone had realized he was missing by now, anyway.

He didn’t expect it to be Quackity, though, sitting on the edge of Tubbo's own bed staring up at him as he walked through the door.

“Tubbo, have a seat. We need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh! Also I'm trying a different formatting this time. Let me know if this is easier to read


	5. five

Tommy _did _manage to get the mushrooms back in time for dinner. In fact, neither of his siblings had even noticed him coming back incredibly late (well, it was still midday. Just late in the fact it should’ve taken thirty minutes, not two hours).__

__

__He hadn’t meant to descend the stairs to his home so quietly, but after sneaking through the kingdom for years, it was easier to be stealthy than it was to not be. It was always fun to scare his brothers, anyway, walking up behind them and tapping them on the shoulder before they realized he was even in the room.  
He was about to scare the two again as he saw them talking in what they generally referred to as the “common area”, but was really more of a wide hallway with a few places to sit and some bookshelves. _ _

__

__“We can’t keep living like this, Techno,” Wilbur was speaking in a hushed tone, using his hands to gesture wildly around him. “We have to take action.”_ _

__“Action how?” Techno responded, “It’s not like we have any extra resources just lying around.”_ _

__“Then we _get _resources!”___ _

____“We can’t _make _resources, not with winter so close. If we focus our effort into war-” War? What was he talking about, war? “-then we’ll freeze to death and won’t even have the chance to do anything.”___ _ _ _

______“Not if we talked to Dream.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“You wouldn’t.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“I would.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“After everything he’s done to you?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______Tommy had been told about Dream as he grew up, too. Dream was the ruler of the Essempee Empire. When L’manburg had first been created, Dream had fought tooth and nail against it. Wilbur told him of the revolution growing up, and about the several occasions Dream had tried to kill Technoblade and Wilbur. However, Dream was also one of the most powerful people Tommy had ever heard of._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______Wilbur was saying something, Tommy couldn’t hear what. Techno said something else, quieter, too._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______“I’ll talk to him as soon as I can. Send him a note or something first, so he’ll be prepared to discuss terms. But I don’t think he’ll mind us following in his footsteps.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______Oh, another thing about Dream: he had tried to blow up the entire nation of L’manburg around six years ago._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______Ironic, when Wilbur said following footsteps that Tommy tripped on the stairs. He didn’t fall, and even if he had he was close enough to the bottom he wouldn’t have gotten hurt, but it was enough to make him let out a loud gasp, and for Wilbur and Techno to turn their heads and see the source of the noise._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______“Tommy!” Wilbur greeted, plastering a smile on his face. It was faker than usual. Tommy didn’t care._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hi, Wilbur. I got stuff for dinner.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Good, good, you can put it in the kitchen. Tommy, we need to talk about some things tonight, okay?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“What kind of things?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Just… About the nation.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Pogtopia?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“No, L’manburg. It’ll be a good thing, I promise. We’ll talk after dinner.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______That was the end of the discussion, no matter how much Tommy had tried to bother Wilbur into giving him more information. So instead he waited impatiently for it to be night so he could figure out what was going on, and what Wilbur’s plans with Dream were._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______The hours dragged on, but eventually the time came, and Wilbur sat him down again at the kitchen table._ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______“We’re fighting an uphill battle. You know that, right?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah, Wilbur, I know.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“No, no, you don’t understand. This isn’t like the revolution- the revolution we had allies. We had groups. Now it’s just you and  
me.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“And Techno?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______He paused just long enough to unsettle Tommy. “And Techno. But listen, we’re never going to win.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“No, don’t say that. We can win, we just need to plan and-”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Tommy I am so _sick _of planning.” He was speaking faster now, his voice getting just a little louder. “That’s all we do, we___ _ _ _ _ _

________plan and we fail, over and over again.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Then we need a better plan.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“No, Tommy, you don’t _get it _. It’s not the _plans _that fail, it’s what we’re planning for.”_____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“What..?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“We’ve been trying this whole time to get L’manburg back- and that’s our problem. We _can’t _get L’manburg back.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________There’s no way to get it back.” He let out a laugh that was just a little too loud._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“No, we can. We just need to try harder-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“No, that’s not what we’re doing.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“But-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Oh, Tommy, you were never in charge.” The words were spoken erratically._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He knew Wilbur didn’t mean it. He knew it was just something said in the heat of the moment, than his older brother would never say something so mean. Knowing that didn’t make it hurt any less._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Tommy,” Wilbur continued, “We are _never _going to get L’manburg back. Never! It will always be under Schlatt’s rule- or his kid’s, or his right hand man’s, or- or it doesn’t matter. There’s only one way we can end his rule.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________No… No, no way Wilbur would do that._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“I heard you earlier, when you were talking to Technoblade… You said Dream…”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“If we can get him to, yes, that’s the plan.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“You can’t do that. People will die-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“People are already dying. You know that, right?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________“ _More _people will die.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________“Sometimes sacrifices must be made. Blood for the blood god and all that.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________“Wilbur, you can’t. _We _can’t.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________“We’re going to.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________“No, no, you can’t be serious. Techno isn’t on board-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________“Of course Techno’s on board. He gave me the idea in the first place.” Another too-loud laugh. “He’s always been one for  
anarchy, I don’t know what made you think otherwise.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________________Tommy shoved himself away from the table and stood up. “Wilbur. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you’re not doing this. _We’re _not doing this. I won’t let you.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________“You don’t have a choice.” Wilbur stood up, too. Despite Tommy being so tall, Wilbur was taller. “Go to bed, Tommy. I’m sure you’ll come around by morning.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________________He _hated _when Wilbur bossed him around. Like he was his _father _or something. He wasn’t- they weren’t even really brothers. Not by blood, anyway. But he’d give anything to be out of the fight with Wilbur, because despite everything… He still looked up to him. He was his big brother, and Tommy would do almost anything if it made him proud._____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________He glared before going off into his own small room, carved into one of the sides of the ravine._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Tommy’s room was small, and every square inch of space was being used to be the most beneficial it could be. His bed was lofted, A desk and chair underneath (because Wilbur insisted he still try to learn school-related things), and a chest of drawers was crammed under half the desk. Shelves lined the walls, and a few barrels were shoved into a corner of his room, too. He climbed up to his bed and lay down, glaring up at the stone ceiling now._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________He hated how quickly his mood had changed. He had been so excited to see Tubbo, to just run around and be a kid for a short time, and then Wilbur sprung… Whatever that was, on him. It sucked. It absolutely sucked. He just wanted to run around the kingdom- or the forest- or wherever- without fear of being caught and executed. He just wanted to talk to someone without worrying they’d recognize him from wanted posters. He just wanted to have a friend he could talk to about anything._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________With a sigh, he stared blankly at the ceiling._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Maybe Tubbo could be that friend for him. After all, he seemed nice enough. He didn’t want to kill Tommy, anyway, and that was enough for him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Schlatt didn’t always want to kill Wilbur._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Tommy remembered. He was still a child, young enough for his brothers to still take him out on adventures on the outskirts of the kingdom, Wilbur once brought him through the forest and to a hill. The hill looked over the entire kingdom, and Tommy, only having Pogtopia as reference, was awestruck at how large the Kingdom was (it had at least doubled in size since Tommy saw it back then)._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Wilbur took him to a bench. A little old, a little rickety, but good enough to sit on. They had a small picnic on the bench as Wilbur told him a familiar story._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________The one of when Wilbur was younger- maybe nineteen years old. The story of him and his closest friend in the world._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________“We’d go on adventures, he and I,” Wilbur had said once, “Through far off worlds. Some flooded with water, others with lava lakes going on thousands of miles.” Eventually, they’d found themselves in the Essempee empire, ruled by none other than Dream himself. Wilbur had tried to start a business (which Tommy later found out was a drug cartel). Dream had refused, and so Wilbur and his friend decided to start a revolution._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________They’d climbed up to the top of a hill when they saw exactly where they wanted to build their new nation- a large spot of grassy land next to a forest. As soon as they saw it, they immediately knew that was where they wanted their home to be. At the time they’d had some extra wood, and built a bench up on the very top of the hill- so they could come up there and be reminded of why they were fighting in the first place._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________After months of fighting, stealing, and betrayal, Wilbur and his friend had officially won, and the nation of L’manburg was formed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________Wilbur’s son (who Tommy was strictly told not to speak of anymore) was born a few weeks after the nation’s start, and was crowned the title of the first natural citizen of L’manburg._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________After that, Wilbur and his friend had climbed back to the top of the hill, to see their nation’s growth. They’d sat on the bench and talked and laughed with each other for hours. One of them, Wilbur claimed to not remember who, suggested that they carve their initials into the bench, marking it as their own. To show that together they would always rule L’manburg.  
Five years after that, Wilbur was exiled from his own country, taking Techno and Tommy with him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________________________It was weird, seeing the bench after so long. He wondered if Wilbur still remembered carving the W.S. deep into the grain of the wood. He wondered if Schlatt remembered the J.S._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	6. six

“I know you’ve been sneaking out of the castle, Tubbo.”

“What? No, no, I haven’t- I would never- you know-”

“No, don’t pull that with me, you know I won’t fall for it.”

“Quackity, I would never-”

“You did. You literally did.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I saw you sneaking out today. I watched you- you snuck right through the castle walls. I was honestly surprised no one else saw you.”

Tubbo couldn’t see himself, but he figured the color drained out of his face. “You… You know about that?”

“Of course. I’m your _guard_ , my job is to keep you safe and follow you around.”

“Then… Why didn’t you say anything?”

He sighed. “I followed you out- wanted to see where you were going- and then I lost you. I figured you’d done it before- that’s why you’ve been disappearing these last few months- and you’d get home fine. Although,” He plucked a leaf off of Tubbo’s cloak, “You seem a little worse for wear today.”

Tubbo looked down at the floor with a grimace. Quackity continued.

“What have you been doing out there, anyway?”

He bit his lip, refusing to look up from the floor. “Nothing. I’ve been doing nothing.”

The silence was deafening. Tubbo was always so talkative, and Quackity was the same. Quiet was unnatural around the two, even in the most serious situations (Schlatt’s fancy peace-treaty dinners, for instance), which meant this talk must’ve been extra serious.

Quackity had been Tubbo’s main guard for… Years. Ever since the incident when Tubbo was five. Other guards came and went, usually Tubbo didn’t even get the chance to learn their names, but Quackity? He was different. And Tubbo trusted him. He was the only person Tubbo really got to talk to until recently, anyway.

But how much _could_ Tubbo trust him? He knew Quackity only wanted the best for him, but if that meant patching up the hole in the castle wall? If that meant taking away the tiny crumb of freedom he’d managed to find?

“You already told Schlatt, didn’t you?” Tubbo said, still staring down at the floor.

“What? No, not yet. I wanted to hear your side of the story first.

Tubbo said nothing, so Quackity continued, “Again, I’m just here to keep you safe. I don’t tell Schlatt anything I don’t absolutely need to. You know that.”

That was actually true. There were several situations where Quackity hadn’t told Schlatt Tubbo’s secrets (though there were admittedly some times he really should’ve said something)

“I made a friend.” Tubbo finally said after a much too long silence.

There was another pause before Quackity gave him a look. “Who?”

He trusted Quackity. Quackity wouldn’t tell Schlatt unless it put him in immediate danger. He was sure he could tell Quackity and it would be fine. “His name’s Tommy. Uhh, he’s got blonde hair- at least I think it’s blonde, but it’s always really dirty so it’s hard to tell. And blue eyes- oh and he always wears this weird red handkerchief thing around his neck.”

Quackity nodded a little. “And you hang out with him a lot?”

“Well… no. Not really. I only met him a few weeks ago, but I bought him some coats and he taught me how to climb trees, so… I think that makes us friends now?”

A laugh. “Yeah, that sounds like a friend to me.”

Tubbo half smiled and looked over at him. The man’s expressions were usually easy to read, but now he was struggling to fully figure it out. “Do you have friends, Quackity?”

“Yeah, yeah I do.” Something about the way he said it… Maybe the fact he wasn’t elaborating. Whatever the reason, Tubbo didn’t push further.

“You’re not going to tell Schlatt, are you?”

“About your friend Tommy?”

“Yeah.”

“No, wasn’t planning on it. As long as you’re staying safe- actually, as long as you’re telling me about it.”

“Really?”

“Of course, Tubbo. I don’t really care what you’re doing- unless it’s drugs, in which case you should invite me-” he joked, “or getting into fights. As long as you’re just out being a kid I really couldn’t care. Though Schlatt will kill me if he finds out I’ve been keeping things from him.” he laughed.

“So you’re not mad?”

“No, I’m not mad. You’re a teenager, I get it. When I was your age I snuck out all the time, too. I do think it’s dangerous, though. You going out by yourself all the time. You could’ve at least let me come with you, considering it’s literally my job.”

“I thought you would’ve told Schlatt!”

“Okay, fair enough. But now that you know I _won’t_ , you’ll tell me?”

“Yeah, I will.”

They talked for a little while longer about nothing in particular, and for the first time in a long time, Tubbo felt like maybe there was a chance that this prince life might not be as bad as he had thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be completely honest, i'm not a big fan of this chapter, but sometimes you just have to keep the story moving, you know?


	7. seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! warning for themes of abuse and emotional manipulation in this chapter!! wilbur isn't the best person here (in this fic, i'm sure in real life he's great), and i want to give a warning for people who might not want to see that
> 
> with that out of the way, double upload for today, since chapter 6 was so short

It was funny how quickly they fell in routine. Every other week, the two boys would meet at the bench above L’manburg. They would talk about what they had been doing recently (neither side telling the entire truth), and afterwards would either hang out in the flower field or adventure. Sometimes it’d be sneaking through the kingdom, hoods pulled low to disguise their faces. Sometimes it was through the forest Tommy knew so well, looking for animal tracks and edible plants and anything that would pique their interests.

This routine went on for maybe three months, as the weather got colder and the flowers all died.

The routine was cut short the day Pogtopia got snowed in.

“This is ridiculous!” Tommy shouted, struggling with the door handle. “An outrage!”

Techno rolled his eyes. “This happens every year, I don’t know why you’re so surprised.”

“I’m not surprised, I just-”

Wilbur interrupted. “You have someone to see?”

Tommy’s heart dropped. He hadn’t told Wilbur and Techno about Tubbo, but he didn’t think they’d notice. He usually went out to wander and collect resources during the day, so it wasn’t like his schedule for going out had changed. Still, Wilbur had asked with such a straight face, Tommy didn’t know-

“Relax, Toms.” Wilbur laughed and even Techno let out a small chuckle. “You look like I just killed your cat.” Oh, a joke, then.

He rolled his eyes and let out a small breath, then said, sarcastically, “Very funny, Wilbur.” 

“Thanks, I know.” Wilbur replied just as sarcastically, laughing again. It was more hollow this time. “Hey, Tommy, do you have any extra paper anywhere? I’ve been writing this song and ran out, and since I can’t exactly go get more supplies right now...”

“Yeah, yeah, in the drawers under my desk.”

Wilbur gave him a quick thanks before going into Tommy’s room.

Two minutes later, Wilbur called his name, so he went in his room to see what the problem was.

Standing in the doorway was Wilbur, holding up a long, dark green piece of fabric that Tommy instantly recognized. Tubbo’s cloak.

Two weeks ago, Tommy had borrowed the cloak. In his defense, he didn’t _want_ to borrow the cloak, but even with his winter coat (that Tubbo had bought him months ago), he was still shivering, so Tubbo (the self-sacrificing person that he is), took off the cloak and and put it on Tommy before he had the chance to protest, insisting he could return it next time they saw each other. 

It was the nicest piece of clothing Tommy had worn in his entire life. The material was thick but still light enough to easily move around in, and the color- though he’d made fun of Tubbo for it originally- was really pretty. 

Once he’d gotten home, he knew he needed to hide it from his brothers, figuring if they saw it they’d know he had been hanging out with someone. So he’d… Oh. He’d stuffed it in the drawer under his desk.

Wilbur held up the cloak, examining it and then back down to Tommy.

“Where’d you get it?”

He didn’t reply.

“Where did you get the cloak, Tommy?” It wasn’t a question. It was a demand.

Again, he gave no response.

Wilbur grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room. Without letting go, he closed the door, and then stood face-to-face with him, looking him straight in the eyes.

“Tommy.” His voice was low and deathly serious. “I’m giving you one more chance here. Where. Did. You. Get. That. Cloak.”

Tommy took a deep breath.

He didn’t know why Wilbur was so freaked out about the cloak in particular, but Tommy had a feeling lying about it wouldn’t turn out well. He knew Wilbur had issues with people betraying him in the past. First his friend Eret in the original revolution of L’manburg, and then-- Tommy wasn’t allowed to speak of the other person. Would that happen to Tommy, if he lied? Would Techno never be allowed to talk of him again? No, no that was ridiculous, Tommy hadn’t betrayed anybody.

“I… I stole it.” He whispered. 

“From who?” Wilbur’s grip on his arm tightened. Not enough to hurt, but enough to be uncomfortable. Tommy refused to look him in the eyes. This wasn’t a betrayal, right?

Wilbur wouldn’t kill him if he found out he’d been hanging out with people from the kingdom. Wilbur would blow up at him, screaming about how dangerous it had been and how he’d put everyone at stake. Wilbur would berate him and punch a wall and swordfight a dummy to let out his emotions. But Wilbur would never hurt him.

Wilbur _would_ , however, hurt Tubbo.

“Dunno.” He mumbled. “Some guy from L’manburg. Why?”

“Tommy, do you know what this is?” Wilbur let go of Tommy’s arm to point at some small symbol stitched in gold on the inside of the cloak, right underneath the hood.

“No…?”

“This,” A laugh, “Is an insignia of L’manburg. I should know, I designed it.”

“Oh. Well… It looks very nice?” Tommy tried.

“Very nice, yes. It’s also reserved only for royalty of L’manburg. I used to have one, back when I was considered a king.”

“That’s really interesting, Wilbur.”

“Tommy.”

“Wilbur.”

“Tommy, I told you to stay away from the castle. I <i>told<i> you you’d get hurt. You never listen to me, do you?”

Wilbur wasn’t freaking out about the cloak itself… Okay, that was good Wilbur must have thought he stole it from a member of the court or whatever, and he was only mad because he’d been in the center of the city- _not_ because he’d been seeing Tubbo. He could work with that.

“I’m sorry, man, I just… I get so bored here.” It technically wasn’t a lie, though maybe once you put technically in front of the word it’s not a good excuse.

“And so you think it’s okay to put yourself at risk? To put _all of us_ at risk? The whole nation could’ve been found out because you were “so bored here”!” Wilbur was shouting now, waving his arm as he spoke haphazardly.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal. I’m fine, anyway-”

“No, Tommy, it doesn’t matter if you’re fine. You always do this, you _always_ do this!” Wilbur had grabbed his arm again and this time it hurt. “You take these stupid risks because you think you’re, what, invincible? You’re not!”

“Wilbur, I didn’t-”

“I don’t care, Tommy. What you did was stupid and dangerous and you’re not going unpunished. First we’ll burn the cloak, I think.”

He wanted to shout “no”. He wanted to protest and fight and defend himself but he couldn’t. At the end of the day Wilbur was in charge, Wilbur was his brother, and Wilbur was doing this for the best, even if Tommy didn’t feel like he was.

“And then… I don’t know, we’ll make you sharpen all the tools in our little nation, how does that sound?”

Every muscle in his body was tense. He wanted to punch his brother right in the jaw, to tell him off and then leave Pogtopia. He couldn’t, though. In the end, his brothers and their ‘nation’ were all he had, and he wasn’t about to give that up just to hang out with some member of their enemy’s court.

“That’s fine, Wilbur.” he mumbled. 

“Good, good. And… Ooh, you can’t leave Pogtopia for a month.”

“You’re insane if you think-”

“And where else are you going to go, Tommy? You going to run back to L’manburg? They want you dead, Tommy. You know you’re safer here than you are there.”

“Eret-”

“Eret would kill you in a heartbeat.”

Tommy stared down at the floor. He didn’t want to have this conversation again. He _knew_ that they had no real allies. He _knew_ that Pogtopia was his only home, he just hated the fact.

“Okay, Wilbur.” He spoke even quieter now. “I’ll sharpen all the tools and won’t leave for a month.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard, now was it? You stay in your room for a little while now, ‘kay? I have to have a talk with Tech’.”

And with that, Wilbur walked out, taking Tubbo’s cloak with him.

And Tommy felt numb.

Wilbur came back a few hours later and apologized for the outburst. Saying he shouldn’t have lashed out like he did, and even though everything he said was true, he could’ve said it in a nicer way. He gave Tommy a hug, and Tommy, maybe just a little regretfully, forgave him.

He still had to go through all the punishments Wilbur had set, though. 


	8. eight

Tubbo had gotten Quackity to agree to let him go up to the hill alone as long as he met up with him at a certain time. If Tubbo was late, Quackity would tell Schlatt. It was an easy deal, one Tubbo knew he could keep his side for.

And the agreement went smoothly, with Quackity walking him to the base of the hill every two weeks and then leaving to go do whatever it was that he did. 

It was mid-winter now, and it was the first time Tommy wasn’t already sitting on the bench waiting for him to show up. The ground was covered in snow that reached almost to Tubbo’s knees, and it was so cold up on top of the hill. Tubbo really wished he had his cloak at times like these, though he knew Tommy probably needed it more.

Speaking of, where _was_ he? Tommy had never just not shown up before, though it hadn’t exactly been as snowy as it was that day, either. After standing awkwardly for a few minutes, he tried shouting Tommy’s name a few times to see if the other boy was near. 

Once he learned shouting had no effect, he elected to wait, brushing the snow off the bench and sitting on it. 

He waited an hour before giving up. If it was a clearer day, he would’ve waited longer, but it was freezing outside and he couldn’t stand it anymore. 

Tommy had always shown up before, where was he now? What if he’d gotten hurt- fallen out of a tree or got attacked by wolves or something, or worse what if he had hypothermia and was dying in the middle of the forest somewhere and Tubbo had no idea because-

He forced himself out of the downward spiral of thoughts. Panicking wouldn’t help Tommy. Tubbo could go look for him, but honestly, getting lost in the woods trying to search for his friend wouldn’t help anyone, either. Instead he elected to come back the week afterwards, figuring maybe he had just lost track of time.

Tommy wasn’t there the week afterwards. Nor the week after that, or the one after that, or-

By the fifth week, Tubbo learned to dread the hike up the hill. He hated being met with the empty bench, the letters carved into it the only thing really reminding him that his friend had ever existed at all. He couldn’t quell the anxiety in his chest as he walked up the hill, waiting to be greeted by the empty bench.

He didn’t know much about Tommy’s home life, but the fact Tommy went missing like he did scare Tubbo. What if someone hurt him- what if the brothers he was always talking about hurt him? He talked about them often, about how one of his older brothers was a “god at fighting”, and how the other had been acting strangely the last few months (though he never explained what “strangely” meant). What if something had happened, and they killed Tommy, or-

Tubbo made it to the top of the hill, too deep in his thoughts to notice the boy sitting on the bench. He was only a few yards away when Tommy waved his gloved hands in the air and shouted “Big T! My man!”. _That_ was when he noticed him.

Tommy wasn’t dead. Wasn’t covered in bruises or bandages like Tubbo had been fearing. Actually, Tommy, for the first time since Tubbo had met him, wasn’t covered in dirt. It was funny, because the first thing Tubbo thought was ‘wow, I guess he really does have blonde hair’, and the second being,

“You’re alive!?” He didn’t mean to shout the second thought, but he did.

Tommy hopped off the bench with an eye roll. “Of course I’m alive. What, you thought you could get rid of me that easily?” He teased.

Instead of verbally responding, Tubbo opted to tackle him to the ground with a hug. He elected to ignore the way Tommy flinched at the sudden movement, focusing instead on the fit of laughter they fell into.

“You disappeared on me, man. I was worried you froze to death or something.”

“Don’t you know, Tubbo? I’m immune to hypothermia.”

“That’s not even remotely how that works-”

“How would you know? You a doctor now, too?”

“Oh shut up. I was really worried about you.”

Tommy paused at that. He looked… Surprised, almost, when Tubbo said he was worried. As if Tubbo had no reason to worry, as if Tommy hadn’t been missing for over a month without a word of warning that he was going to disappear. 

That sent them into silence for a few seconds, neither knowing what to say.

“Really though, what happened?” Tubbo asked, sitting up and looking him in the eyes.

“I… Sort of got grounded.”

“For two months?”

“Four weeks isn’t two months-”

“You disappeared on me-”

“I was grounded! I wasn’t allowed to leave my house!”

Tubbo paused at that. Tommy wasn’t allowed to leave his _house_ for five weeks? Tubbo understood Schlatt’s reasoning for not leaving the castle- but that was big and spacious and there were plenty of things to do (even if Tubbo hated it). From what Tommy had described, his house had… Less to be desired. It was small and the only people to see there were his brothers. At least Tubbo had the castle gardens.

“Your brothers locked you in the house for five weeks?”

“I- no, no no no,” he immediately backtracked, “You make it sound like I was held captive-”

“It kind of sounds like you were.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Tubbo.”

“I was just worried, is all. You disappeared on me- no note, no nothing. I thought you fell out of a tree again or something.”

Tommy laughed. “I barely even fell, are you going to hold that over my head forever?”

“I might. If it’ll teach you to be more careful.”

“I’m plenty careful!”

His anxiety over Tommy the last few weeks slowly dissolved as they fell back into their regular banter and teasing, eventually moving off the snowy ground and onto the (also snowy) bench. Tubbo ranted about how the last few weeks had been, mostly struggling with reading and holidays, and talking about evergreen trees and how interesting it was that their leaves never turned brown and fell off like all the other trees.

And it was nice. To fall back into conversation, like they had the first time they met (though this was less arguing now). He quite enjoyed talking, right up until, during a lull in conversation, Tommy turned to him, face suddenly serious.

“So a prince, huh?” 

Okay, that one came out of nowhere.

“...What?”

“You. You’re the prince, yeah?”

Tubbo’s eyes widened. Was it that obvious? Had Tommy known this whole time? Did that mean Schlatt knew he was talking to Tommy, too? How was he supposed to explain-

“Hey, Tubbo,” A hand was on Tubbo’s shoulder. It was Tommy’s hand, apparently trying to calm him? “Relax, dude. You look like you’re about to have a panic attack, and I really don’t know how to help with those.”

He didn’t respond for a long moment. “No, no, I’m _f_ _ine_ , just… What makes you think I’m a prince? I’m not, obviously, but what makes you think that?” He was panicking so clearly that it wasn’t even funny.

“Your cloak. It’s got this… This symbol thing, stitched in the back. It’s supposed to signify royals, isn’t it? There’s, like, two royals in L’manburg, and you’re clearly not Schlatt, so…”

Tubbo stared down at the ground, trying to collect his thoughts. Okay, Tommy clearly knew he was the prince. No denying would fix that, Tubbo would break under the pressure, anyway. Instead, he chose to tell the truth.

“Yeah… Yeah, but you can’t tell anyone.” He looked up at Tommy, staring him in the eyes. “Like, anyone, _please_. I’m not even supposed to be out of the castle right now.”

Maybe he looked really desparate, or maybe Tommy was just a good person deep down, because after a painfully long moment of staring, he nodded. “Of course not. Not like I have that many people to tell, anyway.” He snorted.

“...I’m sorry for not telling you earlier, by the way. I just thought… I don’t know, you’d report me to my dad or something, or try to kill me-”

“Kill you? Why would I do that?”

“People are always out trying to assassinate royals.” 

“Okay, true. But I’d never.”

“I know that _now_! But when I first met you I didn’t.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not a big deal. Everyone has their secrets, yeah?”

There was something about the way he said it. It felt… Off. Tubbo wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t sure why he pushed the topic, either. 

“Oh? And what’s yours? I think it’s only fair that you tell me one, since I told you mine.”

He noticed the way Tommy straightened his posture slightly, how he looked Tubbo in the eyes, the down to the ground, as if considering what he was saying. Tommy _never_ considered what he was saying.

“Okay.” Tommy finally said. “I’ll tell you. But you have to _swear_ to never tell anyone, okay?”

“I swear.”

“Okay, okay.” He leaned in close, then whispered into Tubbo’s ear, “I don’t actually think bees are all that great.”

Tubbo jokingly shoved him away- accidentally pushing him all the way off the bench and into the snow below. “You brat!”

“No, it’s true! They’re just not the coolest insect!” 

“Take it back!”

“Never!”

Tommy stood up, brushing snow off of himself. He was still wearing the coat Tubbo had brought him. He was still shivering like he had all those months ago, when Tubbo had lended him his cloak.

“Hey, thinking of my cloak, do you happen to still have it?” Tubbo asked. Schlatt wouldn’t be too happy if he found out he lost it, and his repeated excuse of “I’m not cold enough for it” was wearing thin.

Surprisingly, Tommy tensed at the question. 

“It’s not a big deal if you don’t have it with you right now, I didn’t expect you to,” Tubbo spoke quickly, “I didn’t expect you to, I just- my dad’ll be mad if I lost it and I’d rather not make him angry, you know?”

Tommy was staring down at the ground now. “I, uh… I’m really sorry, I… I lost it.”

Tubbo would like to say that in the time he’d known Tommy, he’d figured out all the subtle tells to when he was lying, but in all honesty it was very clear. Tommy always had a story about everything he did, telling it like he was some folk hero. The quick apology followed by no real explanation? That wasn’t like Tommy.

“Tommy… You know you can tell me anything, right? All jokes aside.”

“Of course, Big T. Just like how you could tell me you’ve secretly been a prince this whole time, which I think we really brushed over, and we should talk-”

“You didn’t lose my cloak, did you?”

He was looking at the ground again. Then at the trees. Really anywhere besides at Tubbo.

“I mean… I did lose it. Kind of.”

“Kind of?”

“I… You won’t, like, have me arrested for this, will you?”

“Of course not!”

Tubbo counted fifteen seconds before Tommy spoke again.

“You know how I got grounded a few weeks ago?” When Tubbo nodded, Tommy continued. “It was, uh- my brother got mad about me for having the cloak. Long story, don’t worry about it-” Tubbo was going to worry about it- “But my brother kind of… Uh… I can’t get you your cloak back, I’m sorry.”

He wanted to explain that he didn’t care about the cloak- not really, but there seemed to be more important issues at the moment.

“Tommy…” He carefully laid a hand on the boy’s back. “Are you… Safe? At your home, with your brothers?”

“What? Oh! Oh, no- no, Tubbo, I’m totally safe. They’d never hurt me, I swear my life on it.”

“Are you sure? I just… You’ve talked about them before, and some of the things you said-”

“No, no, they’d never. Seriously, don’t even insinuate something like that. They wouldn’t lay a hand on me, no matter how mad they’d get.” 

He wasn’t sure if Tommy was telling the truth, or if it was just what Tommy believed, but either way, Tubbo dropped it. Maybe Tommy was right- it wasn’t like Tubbo had actually ever met his brothers, anyway.

“Okay, okay. Just… know I’m here for you, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

It was hard to get back to a regular conversation after that, but they managed. It took a while, but they got back to laughing eventually, back to the regular friendship that Tubbo had missed in the time Tommy had been gone. 

Eventually, they had to part ways, but that was okay. Because Tommy swore to him he’d be back next week (instead of in two weeks, to make up for the time he’d missed). 

“If I’m not back then, you can use your prince powers to arrest me or something.” Tommy joked. 

“I don’t think you understand what princes do.”

“Definitely not. See ya, Big T.”

“See you, Tommy.”


	9. nine

Technoblade’s farm was impressively big, especially considering how well hidden it was from the rest of the world. 

At some point, a few years back, Techno had even run water lines (acting as sprinklers) through the tilled land, making an (almost completely) automatic water system. It connected to some water source further up, so they really only had to worry about actively watering the plants during the dry season. 

The garden grew mostly potatoes and wheat, but also tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, and a few other vegetables and herbs for cooking. Over the years, the farm had expanded into what it was today, and Tommy had a few vague memories of them only growing potatoes when it first started.

They already had their fall harvest months ago, but Tommy had been told to start prepping it for Spring, which really made no sense, since there was still snow on the ground which made it difficult if not impossible to do anything to the garden. He was pretty sure it was just Wilbur trying to get him out of the house so he could talk with Techno about stuff he didn’t want Tommy to hear.

After five weeks of being stuck in Pogtopia, though, Tommy didn’t care.

Those last five weeks were… Well, they weren’t hell, but they were pretty close. Wilbur had been watching him like a hawk. He kept asking about everything Tommy had been doing when he had been going out of the house (most days he hadn't even visited Tubbo). Tommy would answer the best he could, though he was terrified that he was leaving gaps in his story when he made up lies to cover where he was when he was with Tubbo.

Wilbur made sure to tell him extra stories about Eret, about how badly things had ended for them. It was obvious what Wilbur was doing- he was trying to scare him. That was stupid though, Tommy thought, because he would never betray Pogtopia.

Even if not betraying Pogtopia meant standing out in a massive field in the snow. Whatever proved his loyalty to his brother, he guessed. 

He did what he could for the garden, anyway. Pulling out any dead branches he found, shooing away a wild animal here or there, but there wasn’t much more he could do, especially not with snow still on the ground. 

That was alright, though. Being out in the farm, despite it being freezing, gave him time to think.

To think about L’maburg. To think about Wilbur’s plans. To think about Tubbo. To think about Tubbo being a /prince/. He’d managed to keep his cool (mostly) while asking him about it, but now he was freaking out. Because he had met the /prince/, he was friends with the prince, and his brothers wanted the prince dead. 

To be fair, Tubbo certainly wanted his brothers dead, too.

But it was weird. He wasn’t anything Wilbur had told him royals would be. Eret was a liar and a traitor, they would do anything if it kept them in power. Schlatt was old and mean and would kill Tommy without hesitation if given the chance. But Tubbo?

Tubbo was kind. He made jokes and told him stories. In the time he’d known him, he’d never once tried to hurt Tommy, and anything mean he said was clearly a joke.

He knew he shouldn’t have gone back to the bench after finding out. This couldn’t end well- of course it couldn’t. As soon as Tubbo found out who he really was, he’d have him imprisoned or executed or whatever. Tommy couldn’t stop himself, though. Of course it would end badly- he knew it would- but he was so lonely before, he didn’t think he could go back to the way he was living before.

He was about to turn around and head back home when he heard it.

Someone talking. It was in the distance, but after a moment of listening he determined the sound was getting closer. No, that didn’t make sense, there was no way someone had wandered out far enough to be anywhere near Pogtopia. No one had done it in the twelve-odd years Tommy had been there, no one had done it now.

Except, obviously, someone had. 

Tommy pulled out the knife he kept in his boot. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he wondered if it was Tubbo. The boy got lost in the woods often enough for it to be him. Though it would be ironic, for him to tackle the shorter boy once again, with a knife to his throat. Besides, you can only do that to someone so many times before they stop being your friend.

Carefully, he crept towards the noise, pushing himself behind trees as soon as he got the chance to. He listened intently, but he could only catch words here and there.

“I just don’t think… idea.” A male voice said.

“Quackity’s pretty sure that…” A second voice said. Tommy hadn’t even seen the second person.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, the name Quackity registered as familiar, but he couldn’t remember from where.

“Not yet, it’d be… dangerous… Wait until Schlatt…” The first voice said. 

Tommy peeked around the tree, trying to see who was talking. He could see two people, scarily close to him. One wore a green hooded coat and a mask over his face. Tommy was pretty sure he’d never seen him before, but even if he had he couldn’t tell with the mask. The other person had large dark tinted glasses, also obscuring his face, but what Tommy paid more attention to was the cloak the man was wearing. It was long, had a hood, and was a dark forest green. It looked nice, /too/ nice. It looked just like Tubbo’s.

Well, not /just/ like Tubbo’s. Tubbo’s cloak was currently ash in their fireplace. But it looked just like Tubbo’s before it was burnt. Which meant… This man was royalty? Or at least some member of the court. 

“And after that?” They were getting closer now. Almost too close for comfort. “You have to make your move some time, you know.”

“I will, I will. But right now we bide our time. Besides,” the masked one laughed, “they’re both too busy worrying about traitors on their own sides to worry about me.” He said it like a joke. It didn’t come off as one. 

Schlatt was worried about traitors? And if it was Schlatt, who was the other person, because that guy had clearly said “both”.

They were too close now. Way too close, Tommy should’ve turned and left minutes ago but his curiosity got the best of him. Carefully, he took a step back. 

It was currently the perfect weather to be able to walk almost unheard across the snow. Sure, there would be footprints, but Tommy knew how to make them confusing and untrackable. 

Tommy should’ve been able to turn around silently and head back to Pogtopia. 

Instead, his foot crunched down onto a fallen branch covered by a few inches of snow. It made a loud crack sound, and he didn’t have to look to know the men turned their heads in his direction. 

“Hello?” Glasses one called out. He heard a sword unsheath. “Anyone there?”

Obviously Tommy did not respond. He also didn’t move. He was supposed to be good at this sneaking thing, but now he wasn’t so sure. 

“Hey, anyone out there?” He heard a bow being drawn, an arrow clicked back in place. 

He took another step back, trying to move further into the treeline. The other men weren’t trying to be so quiet, and he could hear them closing in on him. 

Another step back, then two to his left, then-

An arrow whizzed past him, narrowly missing his head. Okay, okay, new plan: run. 

He turned and sprinted, grimacing when he heard footsteps trace behind him. 

Tommy was a lot thinner than these two, and knew the woods better, too. He used that to his advantage, weaving in and out of trees, breaking branches as he went, moving through spaces the other men couldn’t fit through. 

They were still close on his tail, no matter how many turns he took, how many different ways he tried to lose them. clearly these guys were trained (bounty hunters, maybe?), and weren’t giving up anytime soon.

That was okay, he could still outrun them. 

His previously injured ankle was starting to throb. Ah, the joys of having no real doctors to go to. 

To be fair, Tommy still would’ve outran them. He just stumbled slightly (he swore he’d go into town and get Niki to look at the ankle as soon as he got the chance), and that was apparently enough for the mask guy to get a shot on him. 

Luckily, it barely grazed his side.

Unluckily, it went through part of his coat, and pinned him to a tree behind him. 

Immediately, he screamed and struggled, and he was about to just take off the coat altogether (even though the men were already standing in front of him), when the mask guy spoke. 

“Aren’t you Tommy Soot? Wilbur’s kid brother?”

“What? No!” The lie would have gone better if his voice hadn’t cracked. 

The two men stared down at him. He stared back, debating whether or not he could take off sprinting and try to outrun them again. 

Before he got the chance to run, the masked man laughed. Weirdly enough, it wasn’t in a mean or scary way, but a genuine laugh.

“Relax, kid, I know who you are, but I’m not gonna turn you in or anything.” He stepped closer, reaching his hand out.

Tommy flinched.

Instead of hitting Tommy, or whatever, the masked man instead learned forward and pulled the arrow out of his jacket. 

“Dream.” He said, putting the arrow into a quiver Tommy hadn’t noticed was hanging on his back.

“What.”

“I-I’m Dream. We’ve met before, but you were really little then, I doubt you remember.”

He vaguely remembered meeting a Dream once, as a kid. He didn’t recall much, but he was pretty sure that Dream had threatened Wilbur at knifepoint and almost threw Tommy out a window. 

“You seem shorter now.” Tommy said, examining the hole the arrow had made in his coat. It was just big enough to be annoying, especially since Tommy was awful at sewing.

Dream laughed again. “You’re a lot taller now. 

He turned his attention to the other guy- the one with tinted glasses and the green robe. “Who’s he?” He asked, gesturing.

Even though he couldn’t see either man’s eyes, he knew they exchanged looks.

“George.” Tinted glasses George said, sticking his hand out towards Tommy. That name sounded familiar, too, but he couldn’t place why.

Why he stuck his hand out like that, Tommy had no idea, he just looked at it, and then back to George. “Oh… Okay?”

“We didn’t mean to scare you earlier, Tommy.” Dream said, “Terribly sorry about that.”

“...Yeah, no worries. It happens.”

“Hey, since you’re here, though, would you mind giving something to Wilbur?”

He absolutely did mind. Firstly, he wasn’t his brother’s carrier pigeon- if he wanted to give Wilbur something he’d have to give it to him himself. Secondly, he didn’t trust this Dream guy as far as he could throw him. 

He didn’t get the chance to decline, though, as Dream had already pulled the item out of his jacket pocket and thrust it into Tommy’s hands.

When Tommy realized what he was holding, his eyes widened, and he nearly dropped it in shock.

In his hands was a small bundle of TNT. It was only five pieces, but that was more than Tommy had ever even seen in his life.

“Tell him it’s a free sample.” Dream laughed, yet again. “We’d better get going now. And you can sneak back to...Dogtopia?”

“Pog- Pogtopia.”

“Sure. Tell Wilbur I say hi.” He waved, turned around on his heel, and walked off, George quickly following after him.

Tommy stood where he was for a long time, watching them disappear into the distance, then staring down at the TNT. 

There was a lot he needed to talk to Wilbur about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> desperately trying to push this fic towards real plot faster. we're working up to it, i swear


	10. ten

“A festival?” Tubbo asked, giving Schlatt an incredulous look. They were both sitting at family dinner, George and Quackity once again standing in the back in silence.

Schlatt nodded at him. “Yeah, in the Spring sometime. To show unity and stuff. If it goes well we might even make it a yearly thing.”

“And I could go?”

“Of course you could go. ‘S long as you have Quackity and probably another guard with you.” Schlatt took another drink out of his wine glass. This was the third glass he’d drank that night. Tubbo did his best to ignore it. 

“That sounds so fun!” He beamed. “What do you have planned for it?”

“About that, Tubbo.” He placed the glass down on the table, and then leaned forward, hands folded on the table in front of him. “I was thinking, you’re growing up. You’ll have to learn to run this nation at some point. What better way for you to start than by planning L’manburg’s first spring festival?”

Tubbo had never planned anything before. He’d been slowly learning king duties and things like that, but he’d never had the chance to put them into use. 

He beamed. “I’d love to plan the festival, Schlatt. Ooh, we can have games and food and-“

“Quackity,” it was odd for Schlatt to address the guards over dinner, but Quackity nodded and stepped forward, “you should be writing this down.”

He watched as the guard frantically grabbed some ink and paper and began scribbling things down.

Schlat gestured for Tubbo to continue. “Go on.”

“Well… I mean I haven’t thought much about it, but… Music. We should have a live band playing. Oh! And we should let some business people have market stalls- I know there’s this little bakery that sells the most amazing pastries.” He was beaming now, as he continued to list more things. “Maybe we could hold contests, too. Boxing matches or something.”

Schlatt nodded. He took another drink of wine and stared at Tubbo for a long moment. There was something… Off. About the way he was looking at him. It wasn’t pride, but… Suspicion? He wasn’t sure.

“Is… Is something wrong, Schlatt?”

“Oh, no, not at all. I was just wondering…”

“Uh…”

“You’re not supposed to leave the castle except for special occasions. How’d you find out about this bakery?”

Oh no. He hadn’t even realized the information had slipped out like that- he was just rambling off ideas.

He had found out about the bakery from Tommy. It was some offhanded comment about how the bakery owner was a family friend, how she taught him a few things about baking, and how she was the sweetest person Tommy knew. Tubbo had bought pastries from her the week afterwards to have a picnic with Tommy, and they were the best pastries Tubbo had ever had, even compared to the ones prepared in the castle.

Of course, he couldn’t tell Schlatt any of that.

“I- I…” This had to be the worst time for his mind to blank.

Schlatt just looked at him, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair.

“I brought him some pastries from there once.” Quackity said. Tubbo almost jumped out of his seat, forgetting his guard was standing so close.

Schlatt gave him an inquisitive look. “You brought him food from outside of the castle? You didn’t think it could’ve been poisoned or anything? There’s a reason he only gets food from here.”

“The food came straight from the bakery to here.” Had Quackity always been this good at lying? “There was no way it could’ve gotten poisoned on the way.”

“And the baker?”

“Pardon?”

“The baker. They could’ve done something.”

“I… You’re right, Schlatt. I should’ve been more careful.” 

He rolled his eyes. “We’ll talk about this after dinner.” His voice was stern. A little angry, too. “For now, I’d like to keep talking about the festival with my son.”

And he did. They discussed a few more things, setting the date for sometime in the middle of Spring, just a little over a month away. That… Wasn’t much time to plan, but that was alright. Tubbo could work with that. It wasn’t like he had many other things to spend his time doing, anyway.

After dinner, he sat on the floor of his too-large bedroom. Quackity was on the edge of his bed, in almost the same position he was in when he originally questioned Tubbo about him leaving the castle a few months ago.

Tubbo had been scribbling down more ideas for the festival on a large sheet of paper as he and Quackity conversed.

“Your friend lives in L’manburg, right?” Quackity asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“I mean…” He had to think about it for a minute. Tommy had never invited him to see his house, was always dirty, and knew the forest outside L’manburg like the back of his hand. Plus, Tommy hated going inside the walls of the kingdom, too. “I… I’m not sure, actually. I think he might live in the Esempee Empire or something. Why?”

“You should invite him to the festival personally. I’m sure the kid would love to see what you planned.”

“Do you really think he’ll come?” 

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t.”

“I’ll ask him then, next time I see him.”

He couldn’t contain his excitement when he met up with Tommy a few days later, sharing the news of the festival that _he_ got to plan, all on his own.

Tommy grinned at him. Instead of the bench, they were walking through the forest, Tommy insisting they’d be fine because he knew his way around, though Tubbo wasn’t entirely sure. 

“That’s cool. It sounds like a ton of work, though.”

“Oh you have no idea. We have to hire all these people, and plan events, and- and do you want to hear the best part?”

“What’s the best part, Tubbo?”

“I get to give a speech!” He beamed. “I’ve already started writing it out, oh it’s going to be so good.”

Tommy nodded. “Of course it will. Uh… Tubbo..?”

“Yeah, Tommy?”

“Are you going to be able to… You know… _Read_ your speech?”

“Of course I can read!” He elbowed Tommy in the ribs. He only did it lightly, but Tommy stumbled back like he did it much harder. “Wait- are you okay?”

He nodded. “I’m fine. You’re dyslexic though-”

“I can still read- you just flinched back really hard, and I barely touched you.”

They would fight like this fairly often, even more often after Tommy came back from being missing. Tommy would come in with some new injury and Tubbo would worry over it. Obviously, Tubbo knew it was mostly just Tommy being careless running through the woods and stuff (he swore the boy was _always_ in the forest), but sometimes he wondered if it was something worse. Just because Tommy said everything was fine didn’t mean everything really was.

“Geez, you sound like my brother.” Tommy laughed. It sounded forced. “I’m good, just a little bruised from a fight I got in the other day.”

Tubbo’s eyes widened. “You got in a _f_ _ight_ and didn’t tell me?”

“It was barely a fight- besides, you should’ve seen the other guy.” He snorted.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure.” Tubbo said sarcastically. “Because you’re some big strong man?”

“I am! I intimidated the guy into leaving me alone. Didn't even have to touch him.”

They both laughed at the obvious lie. 

“Doesn’t matter. I want to hear more about your speech.”

“Okay, okay. So basically Schlatt’s going to go up on stage first and introduce me, and then I go up. And I’m going to talk about the nation and peace and unity and stuff. And then I end it with “let the festival begin”! It’s a cool line, right?”

Tommy was grinning at him again. “Super cool.”

“You’ll be there to watch it, right? I bet I can get you a seat up in the front of the audience, too, so you can have a great view.”

“Oh. _Oh_ , I don’t know…”

“Come on, everyone in L’manburg will be there. We might even get King Eret to come, too.”

King Eret, from what Tubbo knew, was an ambassador from the Essempee Empire to the nation of L’manburg. He didn’t totally understand how they was an ambassador and also a king, but they had worked out some agreement with Dream a long time ago.

“Yeah, I figured. I’m just… Really busy in the Spring. With the farm and all.” Tommy’s brother had a huge farm, and Tommy was supposed to help with the upkeep of it. He complained about it fairly often.

“It’ll just be one day.” He paused, then grabbed both of Tommy’s arms and looked him in the eyes, giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes he could. “Please?”

Tommy laughed yet again. “Okay, okay, sure. I’ll try to come. As long as you stop guilt tripping me for it.”

“Deal.” He let go.

They spent the rest of the day talking about whatever crossed into their minds. A little bit of the festival, a little bit of the garden. It was peaceful.

That was the best day Tubbo had had in a long time. He didn’t know at the time, but it was the best day he’d have for a very long time, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter today! but i promise the next one will make up for it


	11. eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! quick warning for emotional manipulation and child abuse. This chapter wasn't meant to be this dark, but it just kind of happened.
> 
> Also, quick reminder that I'm writing about the smp roleplay characters and NOT the actual people

Wilbur had gotten angrier over the winter, and Techno was gone more often than not. Tommy wasn’t sure which he dreaded more.

Sure, Technoblade was pretty monotone and gruff, but he was an overall calming presence. Even when he teased Tommy, he always knew it was just jokes. Besides, recently he’d convinced Techno to teach him cooler moves in sword training, and Tommy was pretty sure he was getting close to actually being able to beat Techno in a fight. 

But now Techno was almost always gone. Either preparing his garden for Spring or getting materials for Wilbur’s big plan.

Wilbur’s plan.

Wilbur’s _insane_ plan.

He wanted to blow up L’manburg. He’d grabbed Tommy by the arms and told him so. He’d said it was the only option, and he had sounded so desperate and heartbroken that Tommy believed him. 

That was what the explosives Dream had given Tommy were for, he’d learned. How exactly they’d sneak in the country to plant the TNT, he wasn’t sure, but apparently he didn’t have to worry about it. Wilbur didn’t want him anywhere near the explosions.

Now, Dream was bringing him weekly shipments of the TNT. Every Thursday (or was it Wednesday?) Wilbur would leave to meet with Dream. They’d have some sort of conversation, and Wilbur would come back with loads of the explosives, his bag filled to the brim with the stuff. 

Today, Wilbur hummed a tune as he walked through the door to Pogtopia. Tommy frowned as he heard Wilbur lock the door behind him. Wasn’t Techno still out? How would he get in if the door was locked?

Tommy crept from the common area to his room, he listened as Wilbur dropped his back on the floor. It wasn’t like he was avoiding Wilbur- well, no, he was doing _exactly_ that, but Wilbur had been so irritable lately. So easy to accidentally set off.

And Tommy was very good at setting Wilbur off.

But today Wilbur was humming. And as he called out the younger boy’s name, he didn’t sound angry. He sounded… Well, not happy, but not in his usual bad mood, either.

Tommy stepped out of his room.

“Tommy, can I talk to you for a minute?” Wilbur asked, a slight smile creeping onto his face.

He walked out of his room. “Yeah, Wilbur?”

“I was talking to Dream earlier, and he told me he saw the craziest thing the other day.” When Tommy didn’t respond, Wilbur continued. “He said that he saw you- out in the woods.”

“When we met the other day? No, yeah, I told you about that already, remember? He gave me some sticks of-”

“No, not that. He said he saw you a week after that.” Upon receiving no response again, he continued. “Said he wanted to talk to you, but saw you were already with someone.”

He couldn’t move. Couldn’t look his brother in the eyes. Did Dream see him with Tubbo?

“Some kid?” Wilbur kept talking. Why wouldn’t he just stop? “Short, but about your age. Brown hair. Had a nice cloak, apparently.”

Dream definitely saw him with Tubbo.

When had Wilbur gotten so close to him? A hand- Wilbur’s hand- was on his shoulder now, the other underneath his chin, pushing his head up to look the man in his eyes.

“Do you want to explain, Tommy? Or should I?” He hated how calmly his brother was speaking. Hated how Wilbur’s hands were so still compared to his own, which were currently shaking at his sides. Hated the way that he could barely recognize his brother right now. Hated how- “Alright, I’ll put it simply, then.” 

Tommy was pushed backwards against the wall. Wilbur’s hand moved from his chin to pressing against his neck. And then--

Sharp, stinging pain across his cheek. Wilbur had _hit_ him.

“You were with the prince. You’ve been meeting with him for some time now, judging by how long ago I found his cloak in our _home_.” The pressure against his neck was harder now. Tommy could barely breathe. “You’ve been conspiring against us. I- I _knew_ it. You _traitor_.” Both hands were around his neck now, squeezing tighter and tighter and he couldn’t breathe, much less try and defend himself.

“I should’ve got rid of you the minute I found the cloak- but no, I trusted you. But you’re no- you’re no better than Fundy!” He shouted.

Fundy.

Tommy hadn’t heard that name in years. They didn’t talk about him anymore, they weren’t allowed to, not after everything happened… Fundy was Wilbur’s son. Wilbur raised Fundy in the kingdom of L’manburg. Fundy was supposed to be his successor at some point. Instead, when Schlatt betrayed Wilbur, so did Fundy. Tommy didn’t know exactly what happened, but he knew that Wilbur despised him for it, and that, given the chance, Wilbur would kill Fundy.

Was Wilibur going to kill Tommy, too?

Tommy clawed at Wilbur’s hands, desperately trying to get his brother to let go of his neck. 

“I can’t believe you. I can’t believe you’d betray _us_ , your _brothers_ , and for what? What did he give you to spy on us? What information did you give him?” The room was starting to spin. He tried to signal to Wilbur that he couldn’t speak, and slowly, Wilbur’s grip loosened.

He didn’t let go, Tommy noted. But it was enough for Tommy to take some heavy, frantic breaths in. 

“I- I didn’t-” He rasped, still clawing at Wilbur’s hands. “I didn’t spy for him, I swear. He- I didn’t tell him anything-”

“So you admit it? You were talking to him? Meeting with him?”

“It wasn’t- I-” He was still breathing shallowly, trying to catch his breath. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know who he was until a few weeks ago. When you told me about the cloak.”

“And you still saw him afterwards? More importantly, you didn’t tell _m_ e?”

“I was scared- I thought you’d be angry.” Tears were forming in his eyes.

“Of course I’m _angry_! You were out sneaking off to meet with the enemy for- for what, months?”

“I’m sorry, Wilbur… I’m so, so sorry.”

“You betrayed us.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I told you to not talk to people and you deliberately disobeyed me.”

“It’s not like that!”

“Then what is it like?” Wilbur was shouting. So was Tommy. He wasn’t sure when the shouting had started, but it was loud and painful and…

His brother was going to kill him. His brother was going to kill him because he disobeyed him. Because he made a friend against his better judgement. Because that friend happened to be the prince, and even after finding that out, Tommy kept seeing him. 

Because Tommy had gone against every principal he’d ever been taught by his older brothers. He’d ignored their number one goal- to get back L’manburg- and now he was paying the price.

But maybe he didn’t have to.

Tommy sighed, then took another shaky breath. “I was spying, Wilbur. Not- not on you and Tech, I swear. I was spying on the prince.” 

Wilbur raised an eyebrow. “You what?”

“I convinced him he could trust me. And he did- he trusted me. And so I started getting information about the kingdom- and information on Tubbo and Schlatt and anything else I could.” His words were rushed and frantic and for a moment he was certain Wilbur saw right through him.

Wilbur let go of his neck. “And what did you find out?”

“They…” He was betraying his friend. No, no, he wasn’t. He wasn’t betraying Tubbo. He was just being loyal to his family. It was him and his brothers against L’manburg, he reminded himself, not the other way around. “There’s this festival coming up in a few weeks. The whole kingdom will be there. If you want to blow it up, that’s when we should do it.”

It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop in the room. The only sounds were Tommy’s shaky breaths, and the sound of blood rushing through his ears.

And then Wilbur pulled him into a tight hug. Tommy collapsed in his arms, letting tears that had been forming in his eyes finally fall.

“I’m sorry for doubting you.” Wilbur whispered. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Tommy felt blank. This wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to rat out Tubbo, he didn’t want to blow up L’manburg. He wanted to warn Tubbo about everything, he wanted to tell Wilbur to leave him alone, he wanted to run away and never come back. Instead, he hugged Wilbur back. 


	12. twelve

It was two weeks before the festival, and the last time he’d get the chance to meet with Tommy before the whole thing. Tommy hadn’t seemed quite as excited about the event as Tubbo did, but he figured that was okay. He knew Tommy wasn’t a big crowd person, but had tried his best to make a plan to make the boy as comfortable as possible.

He was quite excited to share it with Tommy as he practically ran up the hill and to their bench.

Fear ran through him as he found it empty. It wasn’t like he was getting flashbacks or anything, but he couldn’t help but be reminded of when Tommy had gone missing for weeks during the winter, how worried Tubbo had been for him. He was feeling the exact same worry now, maybe even a little amplified, considering Tommy had told him he’d stop disappearing on him. 

“Are you safe at your home, with your brothers?” Tubbo had asked him. Tommy had “sworn on his life” that he was, but Tubbo had doubts. Sometimes the bruises would be a little too fresh, or he’d notice the way Tommy would flinch back at a sudden movement Tubbo would make. Or how he seemed actually hurt when Tubbo elbowed him in the ribs the last time they saw each other.

He tried his best to bite down the anxiety as he waited, once again, on the bench. Praying to whatever gods were out there that Tommy was alright.

He only waited ten minutes before he got his answer, and he watched Tommy walk up to meet him, coming from the same patch of trees behind the bench that he always did. Tubbo immediately reassured himself that he shouldn’t have been freaking out, that Tommy was only a few minutes late, and that he worried too much, until he saw his friend’s face.

Tommy was always covered in dirt, and usually had some sort of scratch or bandage on his face. Today, somehow, Tommy looked much worse than usual. His hair a mess and parts of it caked in dried mud. Circles as dark as bruises were under his eyes, darker than the actual bruise on his cheek. His regular winter coat was missing (to be fair, it _was_ getting warmer outside), and he was wearing a thin shirt and the bandana he’d worn the first time they’d met, tied tightly around his neck. He was shivering once again.

“Tommy! I was worried you weren’t coming?”

“Oh relax, I was like five minutes late-”

“Ten-”

“And besides, I promised you I wouldn’t disappear on you again, remember?”

“Oh shut up, I’m allowed to be worried about you!”

“You act like a worried mother.” Tommy laughed. “I come home five minutes after curfew and you’re up waiting to yell at me.”

“Well if I looked like you do, you’d be worried, too.”

Tommy frowned, giving him a look. “What do you mean?”

Tubbo frowned, too. “Have… Have you seen yourself?”

“No..?”

Tommy hated whenever Tubbo brought up his injuries. Tubbo knew that. Still, he couldn’t help but worry about the bruise across his cheek.

“You… Uh... You look tired, Tommy.”

Tommy laughed again. It was more forced this time. “I _am_ tired. My brother’s been keeping me up all night for, like, three days straight now.”

“Why’s he keeping you up?”

“Planning… stuff.”

Tubbo raised an eyebrow. “What exactly are you planning?”

“I can’t tell you.” He said all too quickly. “It’s a surprise.”

“A surprise for me?”

“Kind of, yeah. I… can we just drop the subject?” Usually, Tubbo would’ve pestered him more. For details, for secrets, for explanations. But he sounded so desperate and so exhausted that Tubbo figured it’d be better for everyone if he didn’t. 

So, he dropped it. Instead, discussing the plan he’d worked out for the festival. 

“So I have a seat reserved for you towards the front of the audience, right? And it’s reserved so you don’t have to worry about anyone taking it, but you’ll also get the best view of the stage. Well, not the _best_ view, but a really good one.” Tubbo rambled, “And I’m not sure how much I can hang out with you at the start, but after my speech and Schlatt’s speech I can.”

Tommy wasn’t looking at him, but he nodded. “Yeah, sounds good. And you have your speech all planned out already?”

“Yeah, yeah, and I have this killer closing line and everything.”

“What’s the closing line?”

“Let the festivities begin. Oh, or let the festival begin. I haven’t fully decided yet.”

Another nod. “That’s sick.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad, me and Quackity worked really hard on it.”

Before he could continue talking about the festival, Tommy lifted his head up to look at him. Something about the way he moved scared him. 

“Tubbo?”

“Yeah?”

No, it wasn’t the way he moved. It was the way his neckerchief slipped down slightly as he looked up. 

“Do you ever think about running away?”

“What, from the castle and stuff?”

Tubbo wondered, if when he first met Tommy, he had bruises like this. 

“Yeah. I mean, we wouldn’t have to deal with all these issues anymore. You and the walls and guards and threats, me with… with my stuff. It’d just be us.”

“That would be nice.”

Maybe that was why he wore the neckerchief in the first place, to hide them. 

“I mean, we’d have everything we wanted, right?” His voice was growing more pleading now. “We could leave. Right now. If we wanted.”

“Tommy…”

Dark purple and black bruises wrapped their way across Tommy’s neck. They had to have been incredibly recent or incredibly bad. Maybe both. Tubbo was sure if he moved the cloth down all the way, he’d see a clear outline of hands. 

“No, you’re right. It’s stupid, we can’t do that.”

Tubbo looked at him. Looked at his neck. Looked at the kingdom below them. 

He leaned forward and hugged Tommy wordlessly. Tommy tensed for what felt like minutes before hugging him back tightly. He could feel Tommy tightly gripping the fabric of his cloak, probably stretching it out but Tubbo didn't care. 

He cared about how his friend was hurt. And honestly? It didn’t matter who hurt him. Whether it was his brothers or a stranger or some shopkeeper Tommy had tried to steal from. The only thing that mattered was keeping Tommy safe. 

“You could come back with me, if you wanted.” He whispered. “We have guards and stuff, they’d protect you from whatever you’re running from.”

Tommy tensed again. He let go of the cloak. 

“I’m not running from anything.” Tommy harshly whispered back. 

“I didn’t mean it like that-“

“Then how did you mean it?”

“Tommy… you look exhausted. You’re covered in mud. And you- your neck…”

If Tubbo hadn’t been holding him so tightly he was sure Tommy would’ve pushed away. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I promise, it’s okay.” Tubbo continued. “I- I talked to Quackity about it after you first disappeared, and we really think Schlatt would be okay with it- might even adopt you like he did with me.”

Tommy tried again to push him away. He failed again. “Woah, woah, woah. I do _not_ want to be _adopted_ by Schlatt.”

“You’d be _safe_ , Tommy.”

Tommy laughed. “Safe? That’s rich.” It was snarky and sarcastic and said in a way Tubbo had never heard him talk before. 

“I’m _worried_ about you. You look like you just got hanged-”

“I’m _fine_ , Tubbo. You freak out at every injury- I swear if I scraped my knee you’d rush me to some emergency doctor.”

He stared at Tommy. “I’m not stupid. You- you know I can see it, right? Your neckerchief… It er... “

He jerked his hand up to his neckerchief, pulling it up to cover the bruises again. Of course, by that point, the damage had already been done. Tubbo had seen it, and there was nothing Tommy could do to change that.

Tubbo forced himself to continue. “Look… I know Schlatt can be scary, but-”

“Understatement of the year.”

“ _But_ you’re not safe at home. You could come live with us.”

“No, I couldn’t.”

It was useless to bicker like they had been. Tubbo tried a different technique. “Tell me what happened.” He made direct eye-contact with Tommy, donning the most serious expression he had in his entire life. 

“I- it was my fault.” Tubbo doubted that was the truth. “I, uh… I’ve kind of been going against family rules and stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t talk to strangers.” Tommy snorted. “He’s just been so paranoid lately- it’s always “oh, Tommy, don’t talk to anyone” and “Tommy, you shouldn’t be sneaking out” and stuff. It’s ridiculous.”

Tubbo narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean don’t talk to anyone?”

“Will-”

“Your brother?” He hadn’t heard Tommy call his brother by name before, always just referring to him as his “older brother” or occasionally “the mean one”. 

Tommy nodded in response. “He’s not the greatest person- has a bad rep and stuff, and I think he’s worried about someone meeting me and using me against him, y’know?”

“I… Yeah, actually. My dad’s the same way. Not the bad rep stuff, but the using me against him.”

“He’s got a pretty bad rep too, if we’re being honest.” 

“Doesn’t matter. Continue your explanation?”

“Right. Dre- some guy saw us hanging out, apparently, he told my brother and… My brother sort of freaked? Started yelling at me, accusing me of things.”

“And then he..?” Tubbo gestured to his own neck. Tommy just bit his lip and looked down at the ground.

“I know he’s been struggling lately, I just didn’t think… I mean, I’m his _brother_.”

“He hurt you.”

“It wasn’t on purpose.”

“You can’t accidentally strangle someone, Tommy.”

Tommy looked up at him again. “It wasn’t on purpose.” he repeated, more firmly this time. 

“Oh, Tommy…”

“He’s never done it before, I swear. It was a one-time mistake, an accident- he even apologized afterwards.”

“And you’re sure it was sincere?” Tubbo doubted it wholeheartedly. He wanted to fight Will, he wanted to yell and scream at him for hurting his friend. He wanted to whisk Tommy away to a better, safer life, but all he could do instead was sit and pray his friend would listen to him.

“Of course it was! Will would never hurt me.”

Tubbo stared at him for a long moment, letting Tommy’s words hang in the air. He wanted to grab Tommy by the shoulders and shout about how he literally had _just_ hurt him. But he knew fighting Tommy would just make the boy resist stronger, and then he’d be even less likely to listen.

There was no convincing Tommy to leave his brother. Not at this moment, at least. 

“You have to tell me- swear on it- that if he touches you again you’ll tell me.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “I swear if he hurts me again- which he won’t- that I’ll tell you. Are we good now?”

No, no they were not good. Tommy was in pain and still shivering out in the cold, because Tubbo couldn’t even visit him in the next two weeks to make sure he was _alive_ because he had to plan this stupid festival, because he was supposed to be the next king and instead he felt entirely and utterly powerless. 

“Yeah, yeah, we’re good.”

“Good. So tell me more about the festival- what’s the point of it, anyway?”

Tubbo forced a slight smile onto his face. “It’s supposed to be a peace festival thing. To show everyone how nice L’manburg is, and just, like, celebrate the lack of wars we’ve had lately. We’re even inviting Eret to… Ambasadorize…”

Tommy laughed. “That’s definitely not a word, but sure.”

“It’s a word, I swear.”

“Then what does it mean?”

“It means… To ambassador.”

“And how does one ‘ambassador’?”

“By…. being an ambassador… Ambassadorizing… I’m going to be honest, I’m not sure what Ambassadors do.” Tommy laughed again, and Tubbo forced himself to laugh, too.

“They don’t teach this stuff at prince school?”

“Prince school? Oh geez, Tommy, you don’t really think that’s a thing, do you-”

“If you go to school that makes it a prince school.”

“No, it doesn’t. That’s not even kind of how it works.”

Every time he looked at Tommy he couldn’t help but look at the dark bags under his eyes. Couldn’t help but imagine the bruises across his neck, even though they were hidden again by the neckerchief. He wished he could stop seeing it but he couldn’t.

He had to talk to Quackity.

He had to get Tommy safe.

Tubbo dreaded the moment where he had to leave, before Quackity got too worried about where he was.

“I have to go.” It wasn’t supposed to sound so sad, but it came out that way.

“Hey, relax.” Tommy put a hand on his shoulder and flashed him a smile. It didn’t reach his eyes. “We’ll see each other in, like, two weeks at the festival, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Two weeks. We’ll survive till then.”

Tubbo stared at him for a long moment, then nodded. “And Tommy?”

“Hm?”

“If he hurts you again… Please, _please_ come to the castle. Tell them I told you to, please, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

“Nothing’s going to happen, Tubbo. I’ll see you at the festival.” He gave a wave before heading off in the same direction he always did- the direction Tubbo assumed his home was.

Tubbo had never ran to meet Quackity so fast- nearly falling down the hill trying to get down. He practically ran into the man, who had been casually walking to meet Tubbo a few yards away from the bottom of the hill.

He wrapped his arms tightly around Quackity and buried his head in his chest. 

“Woah, what’s wrong? Are- did he hurt you? I can call the guards right now, I swear-”

“No! No, no, _he_ didn’t hurt _me_. _I’m_ fine.” Tubbo spoke quickly. “I… Tommy’s hurt. I think his brother- I don’t know. But he won’t listen to me and I’m scared for him and I don’t know what to do.”

Quackity ran a hand through his hair, the motion comforting. “It’s okay, Tubbo. I’m sure Tommy can handle it. From what you’ve said, he seems like a pretty strong kid.”

“I don’t think he can. Quackity I think we need to go on a rescue mission or something.”

“What, kidnap your friend?”

Tubbo didn’t answer. He hadn’t thought about it like that, but technically… No, no, they couldn’t kidnap him. He had to come willingly, they had to convince him to go back to the castle on his own. 

After a moment of silence, Quackity sighed. “We’ll figure something out, yeah? But right now let’s focus on the festival.”

He nodded, and they started on their walk back to the castle. 


	13. thirteen

The two weeks leading up to the festival were a blur for Tommy, filled with explosives, fear, and meticulous planning.

Apparently Wilbur, Dream, and Techno had been slowly sneaking the TNT into the city, placing it to strategically cause the most damage to the most important areas. To take the most lives when it all went off. It didn’t make sense to Tommy- if Wilbur wanted his nation back so bad, why blow it up? He was too scared to ask after the “traitor” incident.

Instead he stood back, and simply watched as everything happened.

It was the morning of the festival. Tommy wasn’t sure he’d slept at all in the last few days. It didn’t matter, anyway. This was where it all went downhill.

The sun hadn’t risen when Wilbur had dragged him out of bed to have a “family meeting” around the kitchen table. Just he, Wilbur, and Techno, going over their plan one last time before they went to the big festival.

Tommy was not allowed to wander around the festival beforehand. He had to hide with his brothers instead (“What if you get recognized? Then our whole plan is ruined. Do you want to ruin everything we’ve worked for?” Wilbur had said). 

He was, however, allowed to sit through the speeches, since Tubbo was expecting him there anyway, and would get suspicious if he was missing from the crowd. During the speeches, Techno would stand at the back, listening, waiting to hear a certain phrase in the speech.

Tubbo’s phrase. The only part of the speech Tommy knew about- the very last line. “Let the festival begin”, Tubbo would say. After that, Tommy was told to run from L’manburg, and get as far away as possible. He was a fast runner, it wouldn’t be an issue.

In his mind, he tweaked the plan slightly. He knew the TNT was most heavily under the stage- right where Tubo would be. Tommy wasn’t going to just let him die. So, when Tubbo said the phrase, Tommy would run up to the stage, grab him, and get him out of L’manburg before the explosives went off.

Right- the explosives. Once Tubbo said his line, Techno was going to run to Wilbur and have him blow it all up, since Wilbur wouldn’t be able to hear from his location. In Tommy’s personal opinion, it felt like a bad idea to have a middleman for something like this, but as it would buy him time to grab Tubbo, he didn’t mention it.

His hands were shaking as they made their way to L’manburg. Techno wore an animal skull over his face- not the classic pig one he usually went with, but something that would make it just slightly harder to recognize him through. Wilbur wore a scarf wrapped around the bottom half of his face, and a hood pulled over his head. Tommy had pulled his neckerchief over his mouth and nose, just enough to obscure his face.

He hated this. Hated everything that had led him up to that moment. Hated how genuinely kind Tubbo was. How concerned he had been after seeing the bruises on his neck. But no, it was too late. L’manburg was going to explode, and Tommy couldn’t stop it. All he could do was try and save Tubbo before it was too late.

There were festivities beforehand, but he couldn’t focus on them. Brain buzzing, head spinning, hands shaking.

Next thing he knew, he was sitting in his assigned seat. Near the front of the crowd, his neckerchief hanging around his neck instead of over his face.

He stared up at the stage, looking at the people who sat, quite literally, above him. First was Tubbo, dressed in full royal garb, a crown placed on top of his head. His hair brushed neatly and his shirt correctly buttoned for once. He looked nervous, and kept fidgeting with his hands. 

Behind Tubbo’s chair stood a man Tommy didn’t recognize. He wore a beanie that reminded him of Wilbur’s, and a dark suit of armor. This must’ve been one of Tubbo’s guards. Maybe… What was his name? Quack city? No, that wasn’t it.

At the center of the stage was Schlatt himself. A dark dress shirt and pants all most certainly hand-tailored. Around his shoulders lay a blood red cloak, trimmed with what Tommy was sure was real fur. A large crown sat on top of his head. Tommy had never really seen Schlatt in person before, and this was chilling. There was a glint in his eye, like he knew something no one else did, and Tommy hated it. Hated the stupid smirk on his face, too.

Behind Schlatt was a man Tommy _did_ recognize. Someone who sent his brain into overdrive, because he had met this man maybe a month ago, when he had been trying to farm. That was George- the same George who had been with Dream when he gave Tommy dynamite, the George who knew he was Tommy Soot and didn’t immediately arrest him. He was still wearing those stupid dark glasses, but had changed from the cloak to a suit of armor matching Tubbo’s guards.

All instincts told Tommy to run. He stayed.

It started with a few speeches by some people Tommy had never heard of before. Royal representatives or something, but Tommy didn’t care. Every once in a while he glanced back, trying to catch a glimpse of his older brother, but saw nothing. Either Techno was really good at hiding, or just left.

But then it was time for Tubbo’s speech, and he watched intently as the boy made his way up to the stand, fumbling with a piece of paper he must’ve written the speech on.

“A wise man once told me that L’manburg was like a lettuce.” Tommy had no idea where this speech was going. “There are so many layers of tasty and healthy goodness, and once you wash off all the caterpillars and worms on the surface, it's a pretty good meal.”

Okay, this was all insane rambling.

“Schlatt has successfully washed all of the insects off our great nation. And with that, he’s allowed the goodness and tastiness to shine through.”

Insects… Wilbur? Was he talking about Wilbur and Technoblade? Oh, and by extension, Tommy, too, he guessed.

“Ladies and gentlemen I would like you to look around at what we’ve built today. Look at each other. All of this- thanks to democracy and the leadership of Jay Schlatt.”

He had to admit to himself that L’manburg _did_ look nice. But Schlatt was a dictator, too. He’d kicked Wilbur out of his own nation, ridiculed and exiled his family. Schlatt was not a good leader, even if he was Tubbo’s father.

“And isn’t that what this festival is all about? Democracy. Our people have been beaten down by dictators by so long, and now we are finally free.”

Free was a strong word.

“Free to do what we want, free to live how we want, and with that in mind, I would like to thank everyone for coming to this event.”

He could see a smile creep onto Schlatt’s face. It was unsettling.

“And with that- let the festival begin.”

And then Schlatt laughed. It was deep and loud and terrifying. He wondered if it was enough to stop Techno from immediately running to Wilbur, because Tommy was glued to his seat.

“Thank you, Tubbo, really.” Schlatt spoke, making his way up to the stand as Tubbo sat back down. “See, my son has done more for this nation today than my guards have in ten years.” What was he talking about? “Not only has he planned this lovely festival for everyone, but he’s helped us capture a dangerous criminal off the streets.” 

He still had no clue what Schlatt was talking about, and when he saw Tubbo’s confused expression, he was pretty sure the other boy didn’t, either.

“Thomas Soot,” Schlatt’s voice boomed and Tommy’s blood turned to ice. He couldn’t move couldn’t breathe couldn’t- “Make your way to the stand, please. Or else I’ll have to have my guards escort you.”

This didn’t make sense, he’d kept his face covered, hidden in the crowd, hadn’t told a soul other than his brothers he even knew Tubbo... How-

Tubbo must’ve told Schlatt about him. A sinking feeling stung in his chest. 

But how? Why? Tubbo didn’t even seem to know who he was. Tubbo was his _friend_ , Tubbo wouldn’t betray him like this. 

Schlatt and Wilbur were friends, once. 

Schlatt was staring right at Tommy, eyes practically taunting him to try running. Tommy slowly. Shakily stood from his chair. He heard gasps fill the audience, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. 

Tubbo had betrayed him. 

Was this why Wilbur was so paranoid about traitors?

He quickly surveyed the scene. Techno was still standing at the very back of the crowd, and though his face was covered Tommy was sure he had an expression of shock, or at least he was busy calculating what to do, as the man stood still. Four guards were walking from the back of the audience up to him, and two more were coming from the front. Tommy had to move quick. 

So that’s what he did. 

He sprinted, fast as he could. He jumped the fence that surrounded the audience and took off. There was the familiar footfall of guards chasing after him closely, but Tommy was strong, he could manage this. 

He could pretend his shaking hands were a result of adrenaline, not betrayal. 

  
  


He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, and being so tall, it was pretty fast. 

If only it was fast enough.

Someone grabbed him by the back of his shirt and next thing he knew, he was lying face down on the ground, someone’s heavy boot pushing him against the dirt.

He could feel the tip of the sword at his back. Even though it was barely touching him it still made him shudder. He refused to turn his head to look back at whoever it was.

“Listen, man, we can talk about this.” Tommy said, quickly. “I swear, I did nothing wrong.”

The person just laughed. It was strange and lilting and almost familiar. “You’re exiled for a reason, Soot. How about you go back to the stage quietly? It’ll be easier if you don’t put up a fight.” He’d heard that voice before, where had he heard that voice..?

“In your dreams.” Tommy snarled. The sword was pushed against him just a little harder.

“The guards will drag you up to stage in a minute, anyway. Come on, Toms, I thought Wilbur raised you better than this?” Their tone was mocking and Tommy wanted to punch the person right then and there.

Slowly, carefully, he turned around so he was lying on his back. Oh. The person holding a sword to his back wasn’t who he expected, though he appreciated the irony of it all. How this man glared at Tommy the same way Wilbur did- they had quite similar expressions, actually. He wondered if it was a family thing.

“Fundy,” He said in just above a whisper, “Please, man, just let me go. Think about it, Wilbur-”

“Wilbur has nothing to do with this. _I_ have nothing to do with him.”

“You have nothing to do with him? He’s your father!”

“Tommy, I don’t care. He is nothing to me but a traitor of this country-”

“ _He’s_ the traitor?” Tommy actually laughed at that. “Look at yourself, Fundy. He was your _dad_ and you _left_ him! You sold him out! At least I had the decency to stick by him!” 

“That man is not my father!” He hadn’t realized he’d been shouting until Fundy shouted back. “He hasn’t been for a long time.” He added, quieter. 

Tommy looked at the sword, then back up to the man holding it. He looked older than he’d expected- with ginger hair with streaks of white. It was funny, actually, because right here he looked older than Wilbur did.

And then there were six guards dragging Tommy to his feet, grabbing hold of his arms, dragging him up to the stage, just like Fundy had said.


	14. fourteen

Tubbo watched in horror as Schlatt called Tommy up to stage. What had Tommy done? What did Schlatt mean “criminal”? 

No, no, no, there was no way.

Surely not.

Tommy S… Thomas Soot. The youngest of the Soot siblings, the dangerous group of exiles under the lead of Wilbur Soot.

But that couldn’t- it wouldn’t- Tommy had been so nice. If Tommy was part of the group then he would’ve killed Tubbo ages ago.

That said, he couldn’t deny the guilt he saw wash over Tommy’s face as he ran. As he jumped the fence. As he disappeared around a corner, being chased closely by guards.

Tubbo was in shock. He didn’t move. Was Schlatt still talking? He couldn’t tell, nor did he care. Carefully, he glanced around the crowd, who looked just as confused as Tubbo felt, which was a relief.

The relief vanished as he saw a figure standing at the back of the crowd. A deep red cloak draped over his shoulders, some sort of skull atop his face. Long pink hair was tied into a braid. Technoblade. The Blood God. Tommy’s other brother.

And he was aiming a crossbow at Tubbo, eyes staring straight into his soul.

Technoblade lowered the crossbow as the blonde was dragged back through the crowd and to the stage, kicking and screaming, by four guards. It seemed Tommy was going for sound over substance as he was mostly making unintelligible noises and trashing.

He didn’t need to watch Schlatt to know he had rolled his eyes.

“Ah, there he is.” Schlatt’s voice boomed across the crowd, somehow louder than Tommy’s screams. “Again, I would like to thank my son for making all of this possible. If he hadn’t done a little espionage then we wouldn’t have half of the information we currently do about this kid. Here- here, bring him up to the stand. Manacle him or something, I don’t care.” He spoke with the wave of a hand.

Once Tommy was up on stage, heavy metal cuffs were fastened around his wrists, chaining them tightly together. More were quickly snapped around his ankles.

Was this Tubbo’s fault? No, no, how could it be? He hadn’t said a word to Schlatt, Schlatt didn’t even know he was sneaking out. The only person Tubbo had even told was-

Quackity was staring down at the ground, hands folded in front of him.

Traitor. Traitor, traitor, traitor, he lied, he said he wouldn’t tell Schlatt.

“Now, Thomas here is a traitor to this country.” Schlatt continued. “And we thought we’d make an example of him.” No, no, he wouldn’t. Tommy was sixteen, Schlatt wouldn’t kill him. “I’m sure everyone knows what happens to traitors.”

Tommy was screaming again. The anger in it earlier was replaced entirely by fear. He was quieted by one of the guards elbowing him hard in the stomach. 

Technoblade was moving around the edge of the crowd, moving the crossbow from Tubbo to Schlatt to the guards, over and over, as if he couldn’t choose a target.

“That’s right, we kill-”

“Schlatt, wait!” Tubbo shouted, pushing himself to his feet.

Schlatt narrowed his eyes. “Tubbo, sit down. You’ve done enough for today.” His voice was calm but there was fire behind his eyes.

“No, no, Schlatt. Don’t you see?” What didn’t he see? Tubbo had no idea. But he had to keep talking. Had to keep Tommy alive.

“See what?”

“See _what_?” Tubbo repeated, desperately trying to find an answer to the question. He then lowered his voice. “Tommy was raised by the Soots. He- he probably knows all their secrets. Wouldn’t it be better to question him rather than lose all the information he has?” It was a stupid plan, but it was better than his friend getting publicly executed. It would buy them time.

The king smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. He turned back to the crowd. Half of the people looked excited, while the other half looked confused and scared. “I suppose… We can hold off on this punishment for a few days. After all, my son is just full of wonderful ideas. First, we’ll question Thomas, and get all the information we can on the rest of the traitors, and _then_ we’ll take care of him.” He announced. The crowd fell into quiet conversation, before Schlatt waved his hand once again.

Tommy, screaming and thrashing once again, was dragged off the stage and towards the direction of the castle, presumably to the prisons underneath.

“And _now_ , let’s let the festivities begin.”

The crowd dispersed to go back to games and food and fun, and Tubbo sat still in his chair, staring at the space where Tommy had been.

“You know, Tubbo.” Schlatt crouched down so he was eye-level with Tubbo. “I wish you would’ve just told me about your sneaking out. It would’ve made this all a lot easier to orchestrate.”

Tubbo didn’t look at him. “He was my friend…”

“He was going to kill you. And if he wasn’t, then his brothers would have.” Schlatt gave him a look. “And, hey, I’m _proud_ of you. You caught a murderous outlaw, on accident. That’s impressive.” He ruffled Tubbo’s hair. Tubbo had to hold back a flinch.

“Did Quackity tell you about him?”

“Hm? Oh, yes. He realized who it was as soon as you described the boy. Thank goodness for him.”

Tubbo felt sick. “Can- can I go back to the castle now?”

“No, no, not yet. We need you for public presence. Go, enjoy the party.” Schlatt waved his hand.

And then time blurred together. They had walked together to the festival's activities, or maybe Schlatt had made him go first, but whatever happened, he had blankly wandered around for a while. 

Technoblade was gone. Technoblade shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. Tubbo should’ve told Schlatt about him. Why _didn’t_ he tell Schlatt about him?

The sun was starting to set, now. How long had he been out there? He had no idea. He’d just been standing, mostly, on the edges of the grounds, wanting so desperately to get away from the noise that surrounded him.

Someone incredibly tall walked up next to him. Tubbo would’ve almost assumed it was Tommy had it not been for the fact they were wearing a long black dress, and he had watched his friend get dragged off to jail just a few hours ago.

“Hey.” Their voice was deeper than he remembered.

“Hi.” 

“Prince Tubbo, yeah?”

“Mhm.”

“You look sick.” 

His eyes widened, taken aback by the comment. “Sorry- what?”

King Eret shrugged. Dark tinted glasses covered their eyes, and Tubbo wondered if they were looking at him or something else. 

“You’re really pale. Shaky, too. Do you need water or something?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m fine, I just…” 

“The whole country’s celebrating you, you know. They’re all so happy you caught Thomas.”

His head was spinning. Maybe he _was_ sick. “Oh…”

“I thought you’d be celebrating, too. Isn’t this what you want?”

“I… I don’t know what I want anymore.”

Eret chuckled. “Cheers to that.”

They fell into silence, but it didn’t take long for Eret to speak again.

“What happened? Between you and him?”

“Between me and who?”

“Thomas.”

“He… he likes to be called Tommy.” Tubbo whispered, almost exasperated. Tubbo had called him ‘Thomas’ once as a joke and, in return, Tommy went on a twenty minute rant about why he hated the name. 

“Between you and Tommy, then. I saw the look on his face when the king called him onstage.”

Tubbo had seen it, too. The absolute panic that washed over Tommy’s entire face, the way his eyes darted around to look for an exit that wasn’t there.

“It… Reminded me of Wilbur. Back when I crossed everyone.” They said it so matter-of-factly, like it wasn’t a big deal. Like they hadn’t tried to end L’manburg back when it was barely beginning. Like they hadn’t betrayed the rest of the group. “I learned from it, obviously. Me and Schlatt get along alright now, but… What happened between you and Tommy?”

“I didn’t… I don’t… I had no idea Tommy was a Soot until Schlatt said so. I thought he was just some kid.”

“You didn’t know he’d be arrested.” Maybe it was meant to be a question but it sounded like a statement. 

Tubbo nodded. “And- and now Schlatt’s going to kill him, and I can’t- he’s my _friend_ , but Schlatt’s my dad, and I don’t… I don’t know what to do.”

“Well… I mean this in the nicest way- isn’t Tommy exiled, and a criminal who wants to take this country down?”

“No- yes- I don’t- I don’t think so? I mean he _i_ _s_ exiled but I don’t think… He figured out who I was and he didn’t try to hurt me.”

“You trust him? Really and truly?”

A long silence. “I do.”

A slight smile flicked across their face. “Then find a way to get him out. If you need someone to help, just let me know. I need to make some things up to Wilbur, anyway.” Eret handed them a glass of water he hadn’t realized they had been carrying. “Get some rest, Tubbo. It’ll be alright. We can plan in the morning, yeah?”

“I… Yeah. In the morning.” He took a sip of the water as Eret walked off.

Tubbo already knew he wouldn’t sleep that night. Not that he would have if it could have, but still. He had to make a plan- he had to get Tommy out- he had to make sure the other boy was safe. He may have screwed things up a little, but he’d fix it. He had to.


	15. fifteen

If Tommy was asked how he thought the festival would go, the idea of him being caught and thrown in a prison while he awaited being interrogated (and probably tortured) would not have been the first thing he said.

Though, on the bright side, at least Wilbur hadn’t blown the entire country up. Yet. He could do it at any time, but maybe, just maybe, since Tommy was there, he would wait.

Tommy wished he had a choice to wait like Wilbur was. But no, he hadn’t gotten a choice in anything since Tubbo...

He had been chained up and dragged (yes, dragged, while he kicked and screamed and fought till his throat was sore and his wrists were bruised) through the castle courtyard and into the basement-like area underneath. It was quite clear this was a prison, judging by the many locked gates and doors they passed through to get there. 

After leading him through what felt like a labyrinth, Tommy was quite literally thrown into a cell the guards must have chosen as random. 

He was lucky he didn’t break any bones, considering the painful position he’d managed to land in as he fell against the freezing cold stone.

Actually, the whole prison was freezing. Everything was stone, and the only real heat source was coming from the guard’s torches. Emphasis on _was_ , because as soon as the door was shut, the guards left with the torches, leaving Tommy in the cold darkness.

He missed Tubbo’s cloak.

No, no, he would _not_ think about Tubbo right now. He had to think of a way to get out of here instead.

The cell itself was small; claustrophobically so, being maybe ten square feet in total. There was a stone “bed” on the far right corner and a bucket in the far left. Three of the walls were made of thick cobblestone, and the remaining had dense iron bars going from the floor to the roof, the door to the cell itself being made of the same material. 

That was all he’d been able to make out before the guards left with the torches, leaving Tommy in total darkness. Alone with his thoughts.

Tommy didn’t want to think. He wanted to run, he wanted to fight someone, he wanted to scream, but he did _not_ want to think about everything that happened.

He did not want to think about Schlatt calling him up on stage.

He did not want to think about Tubbo betraying him.

He did _not_ want to think about how Wilbur was right.

Was this how Wilbur felt? When Schlatt had betrayed him, and taken the country for himself? It wasn’t the same situation, sure, but similar enough that Tommy’s mind drifted to the possibility.

No, it didn’t matter.

When had he moved, from lying on the floor to the bed? It wasn’t even a bed, but it was covered in hay and it made it slightly softer and warmer than the floor, and Tommy was going to take anything he could at this point.

He had no idea how much time had passed. Minutes, hours, days? Probably not days. In the darkness it was hard to tell.

Technoblade had once told him that if you were left in darkness too long you would go permanently blind. Tommy wondered if that was true.

He wondered a lot of things, actually.

Wondered if he had listened to Wilbur from the start, things would’ve turned out better.

Wondered if he should’ve told his brother the minute he’d met Tubbo.

Wondered if it would’ve been better to die by Wilbur’s hands when he was being strangled.

Tommy laughed. It hurt- thanks to all the screaming, earlier- but he laughed. The irony of the situation was too much. 

Tubbo had told him that if his brother had hurt him, he could come to the castle and that he’d be safe there. Was this the safe Tubbo was promising? Was the kindness just a ruse to get Tommy captured? 

Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter for today. I don't have enough pre-written to do a double upload but next chapter should be out soon
> 
> someone i know found this fic and i don't know how to feel about it


	16. sixteen

“Is the Ambassador still around?” Tubbo asked one of the servants he passed in the hallway. Usually he’d ask that kind of question to Quackity, but he’d been avoiding that man like the plague since the festival, and he wasn’t going to come crawling back to him now.

The servant shrugged slightly. “I think so? They’re probably in the main dining hall with the rest of the honored guests.”

He thanked her and ran to the main dining hall.

Just like she said, Eret was sitting in the dining hall, sitting at the table surrounded by people Tubbo mostly didn’t recognize. Those he did recognize were George, sitting on Eret’s left, and Quackity, sitting on George’s left. When he saw Tubbo, Quackity stood up, stepping back from the table. 

“Tubbo, I need-“ He started to say, but Tubbo quickly interrupted him. 

“Eret? Can we talk for a minute, if that’s alright?” 

Eret nodded. They stood up from the table, putting a hand on Quackity’s shoulder as it was clear the man was going to try and come with them. “A _private_ word, thank you.” Eret said, shooting Quackity a look. 

Neither of them said a word as they walked through the halls of the castle. He wasn’t sure if Eret knew where they were going, but Tubbo sure did. 

The castle gardens were beautiful, things finally starting to bloom during the start of spring. He saw a few bees buzzing around, too. The best part about it was how empty it was, as the servants only tended the place in the wearily mornings, leaving it practically abandoned through the rest of the day. The perfect place to have a secret meeting. 

“So, what exactly is your plan here?” Eret asked, finally breaking the silence.

“I’m not… I’m not entirely sure.”

“Surely you have some idea. You’re breaking him out of prison, yes?” There was something he envied in the way Eret could be so casual with their words, casually talking about treason like the king wouldn’t have their heads if he found out.

“I mean- yeah, yeah that’s the plan.”

Something in the back of his mind told him he was too trusting.

Something in the back of his mind told him he didn’t have a better option.

“And what do we need to do that?”

“We need help. The- It’s really high security, there’s no way that just the two of us can do it. We need more people.”

“Do you have anyone in mind?”

“I… Yeah, yeah, I do.”

It was his worst plan yet. Tubbo needed to stop trusting strangers- if his own closest friend Quackity could betray him, anyone could. Including Eret. Including Tommy.

He shouldn’t have even been trying to help Tommy. Tommy had been exiled, he wasn’t supposed to be in L’manburg, but… Tommy was just living his life. Tommy was just a kid, he hadn’t hurt anyone, and Schlatt had still wanted him executed. 

Yes, Tubbo had to get him out of there.

And if it meant teaming with an enemy, then so be it.

He and Eret waited until it was dark before sneaking out of the castle. Not his usual way, no; Eret had given him a deep blue cloak that matched those of Eret’s guards. The plan was to have Tubbo pretend to be a guard, so he’d be allowed to leave the castle. As long as no one stopped them, it would be fine.

No one stopped them. It was fine. Tubbo wanted to laugh as soon as he stepped outside the castle gates. He couldn’t believe how easy it was to get out- after all the effort he used to go through just to leave.

He brought Eret up to the bench, first. 

“We, uh… We used to come here a lot. Sit and talk for hours about… Nothing, really. It was nice.” He said with a slight smile. 

Eret gave him a smile back. “Sounds nice. Though I’m not sure how this is going to help us..?”

“Right- right. Every time he’d leave, he’d go off in the same direction.” They started walking. “I think he lives somewhere over here. It makes the most logical sense, I think.”

Eret shrugged and followed as the boy walked deeper and deeper into the forest. He’d gotten more familiar with it over time, but it still felt like a maze. But since Tubbo didn’t fully know where he was going, it didn’t matter.

Once they were a good distance in the woods, Tubbo stopped walking.

This was arguably the worst idea he’d had in a very, very long time.

Tubbo took a long, shaky breath. Scratch that earlier thought- this was the worst idea he’d _ever_ had. He cupped his hands in front of his mouth and shouted the name at the top of his lungs.

“Technoblade!”

No response. He took a few more steps in a direction at random. 

“Technoblade!” 

Eret started shouting the name, too, also as loud as they could (which was surprisingly loud).

This went on for almost three minutes, when--

This was a mistake. It was all a mistake and Tubbo was going to die and of _course_ they shouldn’t have gotten Technoblade, because now he was going to die and they’d never get Tommy back and--

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill him right now.” Technoblade stood behind Tubbo, one arm pulling him against his chest, the other pressing a sharp knife against his throat. 

“I can explain- I swear- please just move the knife back a little.” Tubbo said frantically, standing still as possible to avoid any accidents with the knife.

To his surprise, Technoblade loosened his grip, just slightly. “You threw my brother in jail. Your father is planning on executing him. Do you know how close I am to taking my knife and-”

“We want to break your brother out, and Tubbo wants your help to do it.” Eret spoke, stepping forward. 

His grip tightened again. “Eret. I’ve heard plenty of stories about you from Wilbur. You really think I’m going to trust you?”

“I’m a changed person, Techno.” Tubbo wasn’t sure why Eret using the nickname surprised him so much. “I realized power wasn’t the only important thing. Thought I’d try to make amends now.”

“By helping break my brother out of jail?”

“Exactly.”

For a tense minute, nobody moved. Not Technoblade, not Eret, certainly not Tubbo. 

Then Technoblade withdrew the knife and shoved him forward. 

Not expecting it, he fell face-first into the grass.

“Is that-“ he pushed himself off the ground. “Is that a yes?”

The man sighed. “If it’s you two breaking him out, you’ll certainly need all the help you can get.” He grabbed the back of Tubbo’s cloak and effortlessly pulled him to his feet. Tubbo would’ve been impressed if he wasn’t still terrified of the guy. “Let’s go back to Pogtopia.” Technoblade continued. “Better there than the middle of the woods.”

He started walking, Eret following close behind, but Tubbo didn’t move. 

“Are you coming? I thought you said-“

“Is Wilbur going to be there?” He wasn’t scared of Wilbur. He used to be- sure, as a kid, but he wasn’t scared now. He just didn’t want to have to act friendly to the guy who hurt his friend. 

“Uh, why?” Technoblade tilted his head slightly. 

“I just… He hurt Tommy. I don’t know if I want to work with him…”

Technoblade’s knuckles turned white around the axe handle. “No, he didn’t.” It was less of a statement and more like asking for more information. So Tubbo continued. 

“I don’t- I don’t know all the details. Tommy didn’t tell me a lot. But… I know Wilbur strangled him at one point.”

“He _what?”_

“I mean… I wouldn’t be surprised if he still has bruises. It looked awful, and I just… I didn’t know how to help him…”

It looked like Technoblade had stopped listening, pure rage on his face that Tubbo worried was going to be taken out on him and Eret. “Of course… when he refused to take off that stupid bandana…” Technoblade muttered under his breath. “And stupid Tommy, refusing to tell me… Did he really think I..?” He couldn’t hear the end of the sentence. 

The words hung heavy in the air for a long moment. 

“He won’t be there. Busy talking to Dream. We’ll have a few hours at least.” Technoblade said, and started walking again. This time, they both followed. 

Technoblade didn’t take them on a direct route to his home. Tubbo couldn’t blame him- he was still the prince, Eret was still an ambassador (and king? He still didn’t know how that worked), and Technoblade was a very much wanted criminal. 

It only took them five minutes to get to the entrance of Pogtopia. 

He would’ve missed it if Technoblade didn’t stop. It looked just like a cave, though looking closely he could see the faint outline of a door shape. Technoblade pushed it in, and the door swung open. He stepped through, and, after flashing looks to each other, Eret and Tubbo did the same. 

Pogtopia was tiny. It was literally just a cave with a single bed and a few chests. It barely fit the three of them standing, he couldn’t imagine three people trying to live in it. 

And then Technoblade descended a staircase that Tubbo hadn’t seen. The staircase led to… ah, this made a lot more sense. 

Pogtopia was in a ravine. The walls were all dirt and stone (that explained why Tommy was always such a mess), man made bridges stretched from the sides of the walls, leading to different rooms. The one Technoblade was leading them down to was less of a room and more of a really wide hallway, at the bottom of the staircase. 

“I’d say make yourselves at home, but I’d prefer if you didn’t.” Technoblade said, sitting down at a table. Eret sat down, and Tubbo followed the motion. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Technoblade asked, hands folded in front of him. 

“We… well, we don’t exactly have a plan yet. That’s why we came to you.” Eret admitted. 

“Of course.” He muttered, shaking his head. “Alright, well what do you need to do this prison break?”

“Uh… We need someone to distract the guards, we need to break the lock, and get him out. Without getting caught.” Tubbo said. 

“Do you know anyone who can pick locks? Or anyone good at distracting guards?” 

Tubbo frowned. He shook his head. “No… Not really…”

“Do you know the layout of the prison? Or the schedules of the guards?”

“I don’t…”

“Do you even know which cell he’s in?” After neither responded, Technoblade stood up. “You're useless, aren’t you. Here I was thinking I’d get spies on the inside and you have the exact same information I do.” He walked over to a nearby chest and started rifling through it

“Technoblade, wait. I can figure it out, I swear! We can get all the information you need. Please, _please_ , Technoblade, I need your help to do this.”

Technoblade was scary in this light, towering over Tubbo, messy pink hair spilling over his shoulders. He had no doubt this man could kill him in seconds if he wanted to. 

“Of course I’m helping.” He set a piece of paper and a pen on the table. “I’m making a list of all the information we’ll need in order to break him out.”


	17. seventeen

Tommy didn’t expect jail to be so boring. Techno had always made it sound exciting, always scary guards walking around, or other prisoners willing to attack you to take your stuff. 

Instead he was just crammed in a too-small cell, trapped in total darkness, fighting off a panic attack from the claustrophobia he was feeling. 

Every once in a while, Techno would mention hearing voices. They usually weren’t too bad (though Tommy occasionally had to calm him down or distract him from what Techno described as “the screaming”). It was probably rude to wish he heard voices right now.

It would be better company than his own internal voice, who was constantly reminding him how Tubbo betrayed him. 

That was all he could think about for… however long he was there. 

Until something finally pulled him out of his thoughts. 

He heard the footsteps long before he saw the light. There were three sets of them- the first was nervous, hesitant, and loud. Like someone wasn’t sure they wanted to be there or not. The second reminded him of Techno, confident and powerful and definitely wearing heels. The third fell somewhere in between those two. Then he saw light shine down the long hallway, and then he saw the two figures that came with the steps. 

The hesitant steps belonged to the man Tommy recognized as Tubbo’s… sidekick? Guard? What were they referred to? He was still wearing armor, and held the torch in one and hand seemed to be carrying some sort of weapon in the other. Tommy shifted slightly at the sight of it, pressing his back against the wall furthest the door. 

The medium footsteps belonged to… George. The guy who was working with Dream. Also, the guy who was on stage behind Schlatt earlier. That didn’t- that didn’t make sense. Maybe he was just imagining it, or got the faces confused. 

The last footsteps belonged to… Oh. Oh, no. Tommy was dead, so, _so_ dead. 

The last footsteps belonged to king Schlatt, who was wearing the same getup he had at the festival (a crown and cape), he would've thought the outfit ridiculous had he not been scared out of his mind. 

“Well if it isn’t little Tommy Soot.” Schlatt spoke, striding confidently up to the cell bars. “Honestly I’m surprised you had the audacity to show your face in L’manburg.” 

He said it so arrogantly, Tommy couldn’t _not_ say something back. “Same to you. I mean, if I looked like you I wouldn’t want anyone seeing my face here, either.”

He wanted Schlatt to be offended, but instead the man just laughed. “You have a temper. I see why Wilbur kept you around.”

Tubbo’s guard- Quackity, he recalled- unlocked the cell door. Tommy wanted to lunge at him, to take his sword and fight, but he couldn’t exactly do that with his hands chained together. Instead, he sat and watched as the men entered the cell. 

A chill went down his spine. 

“Now, although my son was clearly just coming up with excuses earlier, I don’t think questioning you would be so bad. I’d appreciate it if you make this easy for us.” Schlatt grabbed him by the chin, tilting Tommy’s head up to look him in the eyes, “What do you know?”

To say Tommy was terrified was an understatement. His best friend has just betrayed him, his brothers were nowhere to be found, and the villain he had grown up having nightmares about was threatening him. 

It wouldn’t have surprised anyone if he caved immediately and told him everything he knew. 

Maybe he _should_ have told him everything he knew. 

Instead, he spit in the king’s face. 

Schlatt let go of him and took a step back, wiping the spit off to say Tommy was happy about this was an understatement. “Ah, there’s that temper again.” There was no humor in that laugh. 

Quackity had unsheathed his sword slightly, Tommy watched it with wide eyes. He’d sparred with Techno before (and almost won), he was pretty sure he could dodge any of this guy’s attacks. 

“You always have to make things more difficult for yourself, don’t you? Tell me, Thomas, is it a family thing?” Schlatt grabbed his shoulders and pulled him to his feet before he had the chance to react. “I remember your brother was the same way. Always fighting, even when he knew he’d lose.”

“Don’t talk about my brother.” Tommy growled

“Or what?” Schlatt laughed yet again. “What will you do, Thomas, attack me? Last I checked, your hands were tied.”

George and Quackity moved to either side of Tommy and pushed him against the wall, holding his arms. He wondered if they rehearsed that before.

“So… what now? You’re gonna beat me up till I tell you something? You’re not getting any information from me.” He tried to sound brave. He tried so hard to sound brave. He would’ve sounded braver if his voice hadn’t cracked. 

Maybe it was from Tubbo’s betrayal- or Wilbur’s hands around his neck- no, that was justified- was it?- he was going to stay loyal- he didn’t know if he wanted to tell them- he had to tell them- he wasn’t going to-

A loud crack echoed through the empty hallways. He felt the blood drip from his face before he registered the pain. 

That man- the king- had just broken his nose!

“Come on, Thomas, I don’t really want to hurt you.” Blatant lie, Tommy could see his smile even in the dim light, “Just tell us what you know.”

He looked up at them and blinked. “No.”

The next few hours- was it hours? He couldn’t keep track- were a blur of pain and yelling. He wasn’t able to keep track of who was hitting him, or where, or whatever. Schlatt had started with the nose, but he wasn’t able to really see properly after that. He was pretty sure George had taken over at some point, and probably broke some ribs. Tommy refused to talk. He wasn’t even sure what information they wanted (where Pogtopia is, or the explosives, probably). 

By the time the men were done, Tommy’s head was spinning and he couldn’t stand. 

“I’m surprised he lasted this long.” George said. Yeah, this was definitely the George that was with Dream. Traitor. 

They let him fall to the floor, eyes closed before he even hit the ground. They probably thought he passed out, because they kept talking as they walked out. 

“We should hold a public execution.” Schlatt said. 

“Schlatt, you can’t be serious.” Quackity replied. He heard the lock of the cell door behind him. 

“No, I am, he’s an enemy to the nation-“ the three started to walk away. Their voices got quieter as they walked. 

“He’s sixteen-“

“He’s a danger to society.”

“Schlatt.”

“Quackity, you’re not my adviser.” That must’ve been a low blow, because it was silent aside from their footsteps after that. 

After that everything was a haze of being awake and not. He couldn’t exactly check his injuries in the dark, so all he really could do was pray none were bad. Still, it took what felt like an hour for his nose to stop bleeding, which wasn’t a good sign. He elected to ignore it. 

Time was hard to track in the pitch black. Gosh, he wished he had a window. 

He heard the footsteps again. This time it wasn’t three sets, though, just one. Even more hesitant than before, and there were a few times it stopped entirely, a man would curse under his breath, and then keep going. 

Quackity turned the corner, no longer wearing armor, only a small bag slung over his shoulder and a dim torch in his hand.

Still, on instinct, he pushed himself back to the furthest point in the cell. It took effort to not curl into the fetal position. Had Quackity even been the one to hit him? He… Honestly couldn’t recall. At the very least, the man had kept him from fighting back, and that was enough to be wary of him.

“Hi… Tommy, right?” The man spoke softly. Nervously. It reminded him of how Tubbo was when they first met. His eyes teared up at the thought, which was _so_ unfair, because Tommy was _not_ going to cry in front of the enemy.

“If you’re here to get more “information”, I’m still not saying anything.” Oh, weird. His voice was hoarse, worse than it was earlier. Had he been screaming at some point? He wouldn’t be surprised.

“No, no, I’m not- oh, geez, I’m so sorry, Tommy.” The man sat down criss-cross in front of the cell door. He didn’t unlock it, didn’t make any moves to get closer to Tommy. Just sat. 

“No you’re not.” It was a challenge. Obviously the man wasn’t sorry, why would he be? He was in the king’s court, he wanted Tommy dead. All of the kingdom did.

It wasn’t surprising that Quackity didn’t respond to that. Not directly, at least. Instead, he pulled the bag off of his shoulder. 

“I brought you some food. Whatever they’ll give you won’t be enough, so…” As Quackity spoke, he pulled out a small loaf of bread. It looked heavenly, better than anything Tommy had eaten in months. 

Carefully as he could, he pushed himself to the front of the cell, ignoring the screaming pain that came from moving. His ribs hurt the most (definitely broken, then). He ignored it for now, though, food being more important.

In the back of his mind, warning bells went off. This is a trap. Tubbo sent him to confuse you. He wants you dead. The bread is poisoned.

But honestly? Poisoned bread was a better way to go than being publicly executed. Or, worse, beaten to death in a prison cell. So he took the bread, not hesitating to take a bite.

It was amazing. Like a gift from the gods. The best bread he’d ever had, and that thought surprised him a bit, because the only bread he’d had that was as good as this was-

“Is this from Niki’s bakery?”

Quackity nodded. “Yeah. You’ve been there before?”

“Mhm.”

“Right, she’s friends with Wilbur, isn’t she?”

“Uh…”

“Sorry, she _was_ friends with Wilbur. I’m sure they don’t talk anymore, yeah?”

“...Yeah. Look, do you want something?”

“I want to break you out.”

Tommy froze.

“You want- sorry, you want what?” 

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a little heads up, updates are going to slow down a little as i'm working on 2 fics now. i should be updating once a week now instead of twice :)

**Author's Note:**

> eyo! I super appreciate comments or kudos or whatever, just so I know if people are actually interested in this


End file.
